Demons and Fairies
by Brago12716
Summary: Hiei and Bloom were both trapped inside of Sword Art Online, and when the game ends they come out looking for the other one. This is a story of how they find each other and what happens when they realize what the other is. Yu Yu Hakusho's time frame is right after the rescue of Yukina, but before the start of the Dark Tournament. Winx Club is at the start of the series. YYH/WC/SAO
1. Wake Up to Search

Demons and Fairies

Chapter 1

Wake Up to Search

Hiei's eyes jolted awake as he came out of the game that the fox tricked him into entering two years ago. Being a demon meant that his body didn't need the constant fluids that the human body did, so he was able to immediately recover from the death game. He looked around the room and saw that he was in what looked like a hospital room, but with no windows in it. He briefly wondered where he was before he remembered that he had to find someone, he uttered one name before he quickly used what strength he had to leave, "Ember."

Rushing down the halls of the 'hospital' Hiei came across the sight of Koenma in his chair stamping papers. So he was in spirit world while he was in the game was he, that means that he had to get to earth and fast if he wanted to find her. "Where are you going Hiei," came a voice that made said fire demon want to strangle.

Turning around, he came face to face with Kurama and immediately tried yelled at him, "you bastard, you put me in there for two damn years you damned fox."

"Hiei, I had no way of knowing that that would happen to you and I am sure you realize that you could have handled it." Kurama tried to defend but the death glare Hiei was giving him started to make him feel very nervous right now. "Anyway, I am sure you would like to know what has happened in your time in the game," Kurama said trying to get the subject somewhere else.

"No not really, just let me know if Yukina is safe and I will be on my way," Hiei plainly stated, he had someone to find.

"Yes well about that, we didn't know when you would wake up and after you saved her and went into that game. We just couldn't let you possibly die without her knowing so Yusuke and I told her," Kurama admitted guiltily

"You what," Hiei shouted in anger, "if I didn't have time for this we would have a very lengthy conversation about keeping secrets for a reason."

"Wait, you just woke up, where could you possibly need to go to," he asked but was ignored as Hiei just left in a very bad mood. "Maybe I should tell him, but then again he is very angry right now."

"First I will talk with Koenma and than I will start my search for her," Hiei said to no one as he walked to the toddlers office.

"Are you able to get me a list of all the survivors to the game that I just left," he asked as he walked into Koenma's office with a calm expression on his face.

"Hiei, when did you wake up," Koenma asked startled that he even woke up.

"Can you do what I asked or not," Hiei demanded.

"I can if I have a big enough incentive, but in all honesty, I don't see why I should," the toddler said.

Hiei wanted to find her quick, and that meant that he is desperate for any help, and that might mean he would have to through away his pride. So he reluctantly bowed his head and spoke in a calm and somewhat pleading voice, "please, can you help me find someone that I met in the game."

If Hiei didn't need the toddler's help he would have laughed at the look on Koenma's face. His mouth was open to the point that his pacifier fell out and his eyes looked like they would jump from their sockets. It took Koenma a full minute before he could give him an answer, "in light of what you just did, which was not easy I imagine, I will do all that I can to get you that list. It will, however take a little while before I can get you anything and so you will have to be patient."

"Thank you, and if you can, can you make it only the female population," Hiei almost whispered to him to which Koenma nodded. With nothing left to say, Hiei turned and walked out to head to the human world and talk with the detective.

On his way out he was stopped by Botan, who seemed just exhilarated that he was awake, "it's wonderful to see you out of that awful game Hiei."

"Hn," he said as he tried to go by but was stopped once again by Botan.

"By the way, do you happen to know these names," she asked as she pulled a list of names from her kimono. On the list were the names of everyone he was forced to kill in the game, people that he knew in the game that died. 'The fairy girl must have got the list from fairying their souls to spirit world,' Hiei thought

"Yes I do, these were the names of the people that I had no choice but to kill or watch them die. Some of them were friends towards the end, and some were other player killers," Hiei stated as he gave the list back to her.

"Okay, I just wanted to know if what all of them said was true or not, and I also have a few things to give to you," Botan said as she reached into her kimono and pulled out a plain gold box. There was a letter attached to the box for Hiei to read, and him alone to read. Taking the box from her, he turned to walk away until, "I also have money that one of them said was from a bet you made."

"Hn," he said as he snatched the money from her hands, 'took the fool long enough,' he thought. "Anything else," he asked as he noticed that she hadn't left of made an attempt to move.

"Yes, I also have another letter from a woman with blonde hair for you," she said as she pulled out the letter from her kimono.

'how in the world does she fit all that crap in there,' Hiei thought as he snatched the letter from her. He knew what it was about and he would read the contents later on for the request.

"Are you going to see Yukina," Botan asked as Hiei was walking away.

"No I am not, but I do know that she knows, and I have to say that I thought that you would be the one to tell her," he said with a small smirk seeing her reaction.

"what makes you say that," she asked innocently.

"Manly because of that big mouth of yours that can't usually keep a secret," Hiei said with an evil smirk across his face.

"Oh look at that, I think that Koenma is calling me, goodbye," Botan yelled as she ran into Koenma's office.

"It's a good thing I don't have time to deal with the detectives fuck up," Hiei said as he left spirit world for the human world. After that, his quest to find ember will begin.

* * *

 **Gardenia, California (same moment Hiei awoke)**

Bloom's eyes shot open as she also awoke from her two years within the game, and she was in the hospital and not in another world. She had needed fluids to keep her alive so she was hooked to an IV in order to keep her alive. When she awoke she didn't expect to see him by her bedside, but a girl can dream can't she. Bloom groggily tried to take off her helmet with only slow success, and now she was so hungry that she couldn't think straight.

As she sat up she noticed that her parents were in the room with her asleep from it being late at night. The nurse came in at that moment with a tray of food and with a silent finger for silence, Bloom told the nurse to be quiet as not to wake her parents. The nurse complied and helped Bloom adjust so she could eat her food, and then the nurse left with Bloom eating a lot of food.

Apparently her eating was quite loud because she woke up her parents, and while they were groggily waking up, she thought it would be a good idea to mess with them. Who knew she could have so much fun hanging around her imiko, and that brought back all of the memories of pranks she pulled on him. It was so fun that he eventually began to prank her, and they eventually had to limit themselves to only prank when nobody was around or people would get hurt.

"Excuse me miss," she began in a timid voice, "do you know where I am and who I am."

Hearing a voice come from the bed, Bloom's parents, Mike and Vanessa, looked over to their daughter and began to panic. "Oh my god she can't remember anything, call the nurse right away," Vanessa said as Mike was stumbling over himself.

All the while Bloom was laughing at their reaction to her prank, "mom, dad, I was just messing with you, I didn't really lose my memory." She continued to laugh when they tripped over each other after a minute of staring at her.

"How could you do that to us, we thought that game did something else to you," Vanessa scolded.

"Yeah, that prank was not very nice, even if I would have done the same thing when I was your age," Mike said with a fond smile as he remembered all of his pranks.

His wife and daughter on the other hand had blank looks on their faces as Vanessa said, "what do you mean would have, you still pull those childish pranks."

"Okay, I admit it, but let's get back on track, Bloom's awake," Mike said as he pulled his daughter into a hug.

"Yes she is but very fragile right now, I would advise against hugging her so tightly mister Peters," said a voice as a doctor came into the room.

"Sorry about that, don't want to break her right after we got you back do we," Mike said.

"No you don't, now if you don't mind I would like to check and see if there is any lasting brain damage to my patient," the doctor said as he looked Bloom over. "It would appear that everything is fine on the surface, so the only thing left is an MRI when you get some proper nutrition. Also just to be safe, we may also need you to come in once a month for regular checks just to be safe," the doctor finished saying.

"Of course doctor, now Bloom, what would you like as your next meal," Vanessa asked.

"I would like everything I can get my hands on, and also could you bring me my computer, I need to look up some things," she asked.

"Of course sweety," her mother said as she and everyone else left the room to get Bloom what she asked for.

When they left, all Bloom could think about was her imiko and what he is doing right now. She thought of his piercing red eyes and his gravity defying hair, and as she looked down, she missed her wedding ring the most. Because it signified their love and she just wished that he would hurry up and find her before anything else bad happens to her.

* * *

 **Japan (Genkai's temple)**

Hiei used his jagan to find Yusuke, he was training at Genkai's temple, and Hiei could already hear his cries of agony from the training session. Oh how he loved to hear the detective cry for mercy from the old woman's training. As he stopped on the front step of the compound he noticed someone else approaching the steps so he hid in the trees. The first to come into view was Yukina, which greatly surprised him, and the next was the foo, Kuwabara.

'What is that fool doing with my sister,' he thought as he followed them.

"Do you know why Kurama asked to meet us all here Yukina," the fool asked.

"No I don't Kazuma, but I do hope it is quick, I was going to visit brother today," Yukina sweetly said.

"I still think it is weird that you won't tell me who he is, I mean what is the worst that could happen," the fool said as they reached the temple.

"Just believe us when we say it is for your own good," was all she said as they entered the temple.

Hiei silently followed them and hid in the shadows until the others arrived, and nobody knew he was there. He silently thanked the little training in stealth that he did inside the game along with ember. As Kurama finally arrived everyone gathered into the living room in order to talk in private.

"Everyone, Hiei has finally woken from inside the game," the fox announced like it was a sad thing.

"Has anyone told him," Yukina asked out of worry.

"No, he just woke up, but he may come here to confront Yusuke about telling his secret," Kurama calmly said.

"Wait, shorty had a secret, what was it," the fool asked.

"We won't tell you, even if the secret was already revealed, only those that were in the room when it occurred will know it," Yusuke said in a tone of finality.

'When did the detective get so much authority,' Hiei thought as he spied on the group.

"We need to tell him about Enma's ruling eventually," Genkai commented.

"Yes, but that ruling was only when it came to why Hiei killed those people in the game. Without just cause, I am afraid of what he might be in for," the fox calmly said.

"Well a death sentence for self defense is a little uncalled for," Yusuke said.

"We won't know if it was self defense until we talk with him, and if it wasn't, than Hiei will be hunted for the rest of his life," Kurama said.

All of a sudden Hiei spiked his energy and the whole room became aware of his presence. They all turned to the corner where he was as he spoke, "so you wish to know why I killed those that I did kill."

"Yes Hiei we do, King Enma will only hunt you if the kills were not justified, even just one could mean death," the fox said again.

"I killed all with ample reason, and not just because someone stepped on my toes, they each threatened my very life in a game where I had none of my demon energy. Is that all because I need to talk to my sister in private for a moment," Hiei said openly much to the shock of everyone.

"You do realize that you just shared something without us forcing you too, right," Yusuke asked in a very unstable tone.

"Just shut up and get out while I talk to Yukina alone or I barbeque all of you and we talk alone anyway," he demanded.

They all filed out of the room so the siblings can talk while Kuwabara was yelling about how nobody told him they were brother him they were brother and sister. "What did you wish to discuss with me brother," Yukina asked as though it was so natural and fluid.

"I wanted you to be the only one who knows what happened inside that game. While not everything is relevant, there is one event that is my most precious memory from those two years," Hiei stated as he took off his headband to reveal his jagan. "I will share with you and you alone that memory that I hold so dear, are you ready,"

With a nod he showed her the memory that he spoke so highly of and gasped when she realized it was a wedding, his wedding. He got married in the game to a redhead with bright blue eyes in a very lovely wedding dress. When the memory was finished she was shedding tears of joy for the happy memory.

"Do not tell anyone of that memory, they do not need to know," Hiei stated as he put back on his headband. "Also before you ask, yes she did survive and yes I do intend to find her and than you can meat, and her screen name is ember."

Yukina rapidly nodded her head and barely held in her excitement for having a sister as well as a brother. "I will keep this a secret I promise, but why would you want to keep it a secret," she asked.

"I just don't want them to know unless I have to tell them, so shall we go see what the fools are doing,"he asked her.

"Fine, but you better find her soon, I can only keep a secret for so long before it spills out of me," Yukina stated with a smile on her face.

When they left the room they saw everyone so focused on a fight between Yusuke and Kuwabara to notice that they had emerged. Yukina mouthed, 'want to have some fun with them,' while Hiei mouthed, 'no, but you enjoy your time I have to start my search for my ember.' With that said, Hiei speed away in search for the one he loved.

* * *

 **Gardenia, California (two weeks later)**

After one week of Bloom staying in her room looking up possible clues about where imiko is. She looked up words he used and their meaning and origin, and than she looked up the people that he spoke of, but nothing came up. On a whim she looked up imiko's meaning and found out that it meant, 'cursed child.'

After the one week, Bloom finally decided to tell her parents about him, and she was surprised when they actually remained calm and not at all judgmental about it. They all decided to do what they could to get information about imiko, and they even made a few precautions incase something happens. Mike talked to some friends that moved to Japan for better work and asked if they could ask around. They are still searching right now, but they haven't found anything yet. Vanessa asked some of her regular customers if they could put out their feelers for anybody matching imiko's description with the same results.

They haven't found anything out yet either and to top it all off, Bloom just helped out a girl named Stella who says she is a fairy. "I come from the realm of Magix in the magical dimension, you should come to since you are a fairy," the fairy told Bloom.

Bloom thought about it for a moment, if she could harness her power, then she would be able to help imiko with anything he needed. She agreed only on the terms that she could regularly visit for important personal business. With Stella agreeing to talk with miss Faragonda about it, they both left for college


	2. Forever and Always

**Demons and Fairies**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Forever and Always**

While Bloom was looking for her imiko, Hiei was looking for his ember. In the two weeks since he awoke from the game he had used his jagan eye daily in order to try and narrow down the search for her. He was able to extend his sight as far as North America and that was it. Hiei told Koenma this and the toddler told him that might be a big help, along with a picture or description of who Hiei was looking for.

Koenma had narrowed the list of possible candidates to five people in the states, and that was it. Now Hiei had to convince Koenma to let him go to America to find his ember, or make a run for it and head to America without permission. Both options were bad, and the plan to run away may put ember in danger from crossfire between Hiei and his friends. He had to find her though, and if he couldn't be with her, he would at least like to know she was safe.

Currently Hiei was on his way to try and convince the toddler to let him go to America to search for the woman that he loves. As he walked into Koenma's office he spotted the toddler working on papers as usual, "I need to go to America to look for the person myself."

Koenma sighed, "I know, but you know that I can't let you go, or at least not without someone else with you."

Now it was Hiei's turn to sigh, "fine, I can take Yukina, and that should suffice correct."

"I wish it could Hiei, but I need to be sure that the person going with you can bring you back by force if necessary," he said.

Hiei knew exactly who the toddler meant, "No, Kurama can not come with me, I need to either do this with family or alone."

"That is the condition, it is either with him, or you are not going at all," Koenma said sternly. Hiei couldn't do anything, and he would rather not risk a chance for ember to be caught in a war between him and spirit world. He just nodded and turned to leave before Koenma said, "and you will need to tell him the reason you two are going to America, even if you won't tell me."

With that he just left in a very bad mood and made his way to earth to meet with Kurama to go to America. He hated that he might have to tell the fox about the fact he got married, or that he turned a little soft in the game for caring for a human. The fox would never let him hear the end of it if he knew anything of the sort.

As he got down to earth he went straight for the fox's home so he could ask that he accompany him to America so that he could find who he was looking for. "I need you to go with me to America so that I can find someone, we only need to make at least four stops," Hiei said as he appeared at Kurama's window.

"Hiei, I could go with you since it is still summer, but I have to take care of my mother," Kurama said.

"She will be fine, all you need to do is escort me for a week at most, she couldn't possibly be in such bad condition that she can't handle one week alone," he rationalized. "Besides with my speed and jagan we can get done in no time at all, and all you have to do is be there so Koenma can let me go."

"You know what you will have to do if you wish for me to go with you," the fox knowingly smiled.

Hiei had to think of something and fast if he didn't want the fox to know anything. He could tell him the truth or lie to him, but either way did not guarantee that Kurama would go anywhere. "Well I am waiting," the fox said, breaking Hiei from his thoughts.

He decided to go with a third option, "I will only tell you when we find this person, if you help me, then I will explain everything."

The fox actually looked like he was contemplating the offer, and the decision couldn't be seen on his face so there was no way of knowing what he was going to decide. When he finally spoke, Hiei wanted to actually smile, "I will accept those terms, but only if I have your word that you will explain why you are so set on finding whoever this person is."

"I will fox, just be ready to leave tomorrow morning, I don't want to wait long," and with that said Hiei sped away from the fox's house before anything could be said. He rushed past everything to tell Yukina that he might just find ember faster than what he thought.

* * *

 **Magix**

Bloom had just told everyone about who she really was and that she wasn't a princess, but she didn't expect Stella to ask a question that plagued her mind. "Since we are telling secrets now, Bloom why don't you tell us why you asked your parents to alert you to someone being found. It sounded really urgent that the person was found," she asked.

"I don't know if I should tell you guys or not, and don't think it is because I don't trust you. It's just that I don't know how you will react," Bloom admitted to everyone.

"Bloom, you can trust us when we tell you that we would never under any circumstances judge you for anything," Flora told her.

"Fine I will tell you, how much do you know about how far earth has come in technology," she asked.

"We know they are primitive compared to everyone else in the magical dimension," Tecna answered.

"Well, Earth does have something that might make us less primitive, it is a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. There was one game that stood out above all others, it was called Sword Art Online, and you could actually fight and gain skill. The game however, had one flaw when it went online, a madman whose name I won't reveal had actually found a way to trap the players in the game. If you died in the game, you died in real life," Bloom said slowly with a depressed look on her face.

"You actually lived through a death game like that," Stella asked kinda mortified for her new friend.

"Yes, and a lot of people died, and I am not sure of the full body count, people are still being found from when they played and lived alone," she admitted.

"How does this relate to what you are hiding from us," Musa asked.

"I am getting to that, while I was in the game, I met this boy whose screen name was imiko. The game lasted for two full years, and so we decided to form a two person team at the beginning. It was actually fun, and at first he was cold and distant, but over time we fell for each other. Then we got married when the game was six months from being over with. We didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel though, so we didn't tell each other our real names because we didn't see a point. We just wanted to be together, but than someone actually beat the game, and everyone was freed," Bloom said as she was starting to get a little more depressed tone while rubbing the spot where her ring used to be.

"It is okay, we just have to help you find him, and we actually have good news for you," Tecna said.

"You do," she almost perked up a little.

"Yes, we had a debate that spanned the magical dimension when we had virtual reality, is a marriage in VR valid or is it void," Tecna stated.

"Do you know what the ruling on that debate was," Stella asked grinning.

"It means that you and your imiko are still married, since you are a fairy and all fairies are under magical law," Flora announced to the redhead.

"You mean that even though it was a game, we are still married and that we don't have to get married again," Bloom asked to which everyone nodded. She was so excited that she jumped off her bed and nearly on the floor if it weren't for her friends.

"Easy there, we still need you to tell us all about what he looks like so when he does come, we won't accidentally flirt with him," Stella said.

Once she said that, she wished she hadn't from the mad look in Bloom's eyes when she said, "don't even think of going there again. If you do I will torture you, and I will enjoy watching your face twist into agony and pain, and I will love to hear your screams as you whine and moan for me to stop. Do you understand what I am saying to you, because if you don't, I could always show you." What you can't expect her to fall for a demon and not pick something up.

Everyone let out a simultaneous, "yes ma'am," to that.

Almost like... magic she was back to normal and said, "good, so what do we tell Ms. Faragonda," Bloom asked.

"We tell her everything and then we can go from there," Musa said.

"Good, but can we tell her in the morning, I feel like I could do with a good night's sleep," Bloom asked. They all agreed and thought that a good nights rest is what they needed.

The next morning found Bloom and the other Winx in Faragonda's office with Bloom telling Faragonda about imiko and the fact that she was married to him. The look on the head mistress's face was priceless when she found out one of her students was married and that her husband was missing. "That is about all of my secrets for today Ms. Faragonda," Bloom told the old lady.

"Good, but as an administrator and a member of the company of light I have three questions to ask you," Faragonda said.

"What is the company of light," Stella asked.

"You will find out later, Stella, but for now are you ready Bloom," the older woman asked in a serious tone to which she nodded. "In order I want you to answer everything the best you can: 1. was the marriage consensual. 2. at any point during the relationship were either of you unfaithful. 3. did you consummate the marriage in the virtual world."

"Yes it was both consensual, no neither of us were ever unfaithful to the other, and yes we did consummate the marriage," Bloom answered with a blush on the last part.

"Good, now I don't know if he will agree to this, but since we are a college we do offer marriage housing," Faragonda announced with a smile.

"Wait, so when we find him, we get to live together again," she asked with hope in her eyes.

"Yes, but there are still rules that must be followed, and I would like to ask you about something you said before," the older woman asked.

"What is it, is it about the monsters that we had to fight," Bloom asked.

"No, it is about how you said you had given up hope that you would return to the real world. Why did you give up hope on that, but still continue to live inside the virtual one," Faragonda asked.

"It wasn't about which world I chose to live in, it was that after awhile of hanging around a place filled with death, you kind of start to lose hope quickly when friends start to die before your eyes," she said with sad tone.

"Tecna, can you upgrade Bloom's phone in case that her parents call with news about imiko," Faragonda asked.

"I was already about to do that after class today," Tecna said.

"Well, go on and get to class, tomorrow I have an announcement for everyone," the old fairy said as she ushered the younger girls out her door.

* * *

 **America (with Hiei and Kurama)**

Hiei was tired, so was the fox, in the three days they had went to three of the five people that are possible matches for his love. He knew them in the game, but they weren't who he was looking for, and to make matters worse is that they knew who he was looking for. So he had to make sure they didn't tell the fox anything so that he would only find out when necessary.

They were on their way to the residence of a Bloom Peters, it was late at night and everything was going smooth until, "Hiei, are you sure that you can find who you are looking for."

"Yes Kurama I am, and all we have are two more stops at the most, one more if we are lucky," Hiei said with irritation as they were making their way to the Peters residence.

"When have we ever been lucky," Kurama asked rhetorically as they finally reached their fourth stop.

"Just be quiet and let me do all the talking fox," Hiei said before he knocked on the door.

Opening it up revealed there to be a woman with brown hair and brown eyes, "yes may I help you," she asked.

"Do you have a daughter that went by the name of ember in the game of Sword Art Online," Hiei asked.

"Yes, please tell me that you are imiko," the woman asked.

"Yes I am, and I would like very much to see my ember," he stated and ignored the gasp and more than likely look of surprise on Kurama's face.

"Good, come in and sit down while I call her," the woman said, "and by the way, my name is Vanessa," Vanessa said.

"Why it she not here," Hiei asked with more concern Kurama had ever seen him have, even in regard for Yukina.

"We discovered something and she had to go to college so that she could learn more about it," she said as she went into the kitchen to call Bloom and tell her the wonderful news.

* * *

 **Alfea**

The Winx were currently trying to find Bloom who went missing before the ball to change her dress. Just as they were about to leave, Bloom's newly upgraded phone rang and Stella decided to pick it up, "hello Bloom's phone, this is Stella speaking."

"Stella, this is Vanessa, I know this is sudden, but where is Bloom I have someone here who really misses her," Bloom's mother said.

"We don't know, we had a ceremony here at Alfea, but she disappeared and now we can't find her," the sun fairy said with concern as everyone else looked worried.

The she heard a rustling sound on the other end and a voice said, "where is she, where is ember or Bloom."

"Like is said, I don't know at the moment we were looking for her when her phone rang," Stella said.

"Where is this Alfea, I need to go there now," the voice all but yelled at her.

"Listen I don't know who you are but if you are not magical than you can't get through the portal from where it will be opened inside the school," she said.

"Just open up this portal and let me worry about that," the voice said.

"Fine, you want to learn the hard way fine," Stella said as she opened up a portal to Bloom's home.

* * *

 **With Hiei**

The portal opened up in the kitchen right in front of Hiei, and he was about to jump straight through it until, "Hiei, you need to think on what will happen if you jump without thinking."

Hiei ignored Kurama and jumped in anyway, with a sigh Kurama turned to Vanessa and said, "thank you for your time and I am sorry for the rush exit," and jumped into the portal after Hiei.

When Hiei came through the portal he saw four girls in fancy dresses looking at him like he grew a second head, "how did you get through the portal," a blonde asked him.

"No time for that," he said as he revealed his third eye and started to search for his ember. It took him all of two seconds before he found her about to fight three others. Not even informing the others he left the room through a window and not even acknowledging Kurama as he came through as well.

Hiei arrived to see Bloom transform for the first time against the Trix and decided to intervene since she was outnumbered. "Get away from my ember before I kill all of you," he announced to them as he appeared beside of Bloom.

"Imiko," she cried as she hugged him around his neck very tightly, and wouldn't let go until the white haired enemy spoke.

"Who is this your boyfriend come to save the day," she said with an evil smirk on her face.

"No, I am her husband and I came here to find her, and now to kill you," Hiei said as he unsheathed his sword to fight.

"A sword versus witches, how pathetic," the witch said as she shot ice shards from her hands. Hiei didn't even blink as he used his superior speed to slice the shards in mid air and than use his own element to send a torrent of flames towards the witches. The ice witch was stunned but regained her composure in enough time to form an ice shield that lasted long enough to allow her and the other two to flea from the area.

When the 'fight' was over he rushed to his ember and they both locked up in each others arms as they just wanted to embrace the other. They didn't say anything for a whole two minutes while in the embrace until Bloom had to ask, "imiko, how did you just do what you just did." It was at this time that the Winx and Kurama showed up just in time to hear the question.

Hiei knew this was coming, he hated to think what she would do once she knew what he was. He tried to think of all the scenarios, but he couldn't, and he finally thought that at least she was safe if she did reject him. With a deep sigh he said, "my real name is Hiei, and I am a demon," and with that said he could see her mind racing.

He didn't need his jagan to read her thought, and he knew what was probably coming, and so he decided to say something before she rejected him. "I didn't expect you to accept me, but I just wanted to at least make sure that you were safe before anything bad truly happened to you. I will leave now if that is what you wish," and with that said he turned to leave before he felt her grab his arm.

"I didn't say you could leave, you still owe me for not telling me you were a demon," she said in a sad tone.

"If I can, I will do whatever you wish," he said in a soft and caring tone.

"Three things, first stand still and do not move until I tell you to. Second, if you wish you can attack me after I am done, and third," Bloom didn't finish because she slammed her lips against his and basically shoved her tongue down his throat. She pushed so hard that they both fell down with Bloom being on top of Hiei while making out. When she pulled away she said, "you have to stay by my side forever and never leave me alone, and love me the same amount that I love you."

"You say that like I would ever want to leave you, don't worry I won't go anywhere if I can help it," Hiei said as they kissed again. When they were done with their make out session, Hiei helped her to stand up and said, "by the way, nice outfit miss cheerleader, you going to go for captain or grunt."

The other Winx didn't appreciate the comment but before they could say anything Bloom spoke with a chuckle, "yeah, I don't know how this was the chosen outfit for me, but i guess that I have to put up with it."

"Yeah, so are you going to introduce me to your friends or do I just introduce myself," he asked.

"Oh, I forgot about them, girls this is Hiei, formerly known as imiko. Hiei this is Flora, Stella, Musa, and Tecna," Bloom introduced.

"Hello, and this is Kurama my parole officer of sorts," Hiei said with a smirk as he saw their faces.

"Hiei, you shouldn't get them to think badly of you when you just met," his wife scolded him.

"I was only just having some fun, but fine," he said as he noticed that she was missing her ring, and so he played a game. "I do however want to know why you aren't wearing your wedding ring," he said and received a confused look.

"Hiei I thought you knew that what we get in the game can't effect the real world that much, so I don't have my wedding ring," Bloom said with a frown.

"That is true, but that is just because that I have it," Hiei said as he reached into his coat and pulled out a gold box. He bent down on his right knee and said the very lines he used in the game that he heard from a song. "I want you Forever, forever and always, through the good the bad and the ugly. We'll grow old together and always remember whether happy or sad or whatever. We'll still love each other, forever and always, so will you do me the honor of renewing our vows with each other."

"Do you even have to ask me that," she said as she took the ring and kissed her imiko, her demon, her Hiei.


	3. Three Months We Train

**Demons and Fairies**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Three Months We Train**

"Alright break it up you two," the voice of Stella entered through there kiss.

Bloom and Hiei broke their kiss and turned to look at their audience with slight blushes on the couple's faces. Bloom decided to speak, "yes well, Hiei, I have news for you. This is a college and so at some colleges they have what is called marriage housing."

"I am guessing this means that we get to live together again," he surmised.

"Yes it does, but it won't be ready until tomorrow since it is rare for a fairy to be married coming into college for some reason," she said.

"Then I guess I will have to sneak into your room for tonight," Hiei said with a smirk.

"What about your friend," Bloom asked since she knew her and Hiei wouldn't be quiet for the night.

"Guys, I think this guy is unconscious while standing up," Tecna said as she was looking over Kurama who was indeed unconscious while standing up.

"Tecna, no person can be standing up while unconscious, and even if he was, what made him pass out," Musa asked.

"I think it was the fact that I am married that caused him to pass out from shock," Hiei guessed. "We can just leave him here for the night, he will be fine by the morning."

Flora didn't like that so she summoned a bucket of water with her magic and dumped it on him. Feeling the sudden cold water caused him to jolt awake and stagger where he stood for a minute before regaining his balance. Kurama looked up and met with the sight of Hiei holding hands with the girl named Bloom, who was apparently his wife. "Hiei, you know you will have to tell everyone back home about this right," he said as he was still feeling like passing out but kept it at bay.

Just than a ring beeped and everyone was looking to Kurama who took out a small compact mirror looking device and opened it up to reveal a toddler on the other end. "Where did you two go, all of a sudden you energy signatures dropped off the face of the earth, don't tell me Hiei used that manhunt as an excuse to escape to demon world," the toddler yelled.

"Actually Koenma, we found who he was looking for and I have some news for you," Kurama would have talked further but Hiei took the communicator from him.

"Listen, I didn't betray you, but since I found who I was looking for, I am going to stay with them for a while," he said with a tone of finality.

"What about that news that Kurama had for me," he asked since he did enjoy some nice gossip every now and again.

"You will know when everyone else does, and only then," Hiei stated firmly.

"Fine, well since I have you, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and you Hiei have all been invited to the Dark Tournament in three months," Koenma announced to the shock of both present fighters.

"Why are we being invited to the Dark Tournament," Kurama questioned.

"Do you remember the Togoro brothers that you all defeated two years ago," he asked earning a nod from them. "They survived and invited all of you to the tournament, they waited till Hiei came out before they moved though."

"This does not bode well does it," Hiei asked.

"No it doesn't, but that still gives us three months to train and improve so that we can survive," Kurama said.

"You should know that Yusuke will find the fifth fighter for you, so that is nothing you have to worry about," Koenma commented before Hiei cut the transmition.

"Hiei, why did you do that," Kurama asked.

Hiei ignored him and turned to his wife with a grim expression, "Bloom, I will be staying here for three months and after that you heard the rest."

"Does that mean you might die," Stella questioned.

"No, it does mean that I will have to survive using any means necessary and that means that you can't be there to see that side of me," he said with a grim expression.

"You do know that me seeing you dismember some people will not turn me away from you right," Bloom questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I know that Bloom, I mean that what will be going on there will require my full attention and that means that if you are in the crowd then I will be worried about a stray energy blast." Hiei said with a straight face before continuing, "however I also know that you will probably ignore everything I say to you and will come anyway so I will just say stay safe."

"Good, you know that I will be there to cheer you on regardless so all we need to do now is go off to bed," she said with a yawn for emphasis.

"Bloom, I will stay in Stella's room for tonight so that you and Hiei can have some alone time," Flora said with a wink to her friend.

"Thank you, now lets finish any talks tomorrow morning," Bloom said as she locked arms with Hiei who smiles and let her lead him back to her room. With thinking everything else is left taking care of they decided to turn in for the night leaving a very tired and slightly confused Kurama to look for his own place to sleep. With little to no other options, he decided that it would be best to just sleep in the woods for the night. He turned around to leave until he felt a tap on his shoulder, "you can sleep in the room with us, we won't do anything tonight anyways," Bloom said with a smile. Kurama nodded and turned to walk to the room behind Hiei and Bloom while the couple had their arms locked.

The next morning found that everyone was in Faragonda's office discussing Hiei and Kurama's arrival. "So let me see if I have this straight, Hiei is a demon, Kurama is a human with the soul of a demon named Yoko Kurama in him. Hiei formerly known to us as imiko is Bloom's husband while Kurama is his best friend," stated Faragonda.

"Yes on all accounts although I am reconsidering the friend part," Hiei stated as Kurama had a fake hurt look on his face.

"Well, I never thought that you would be a demon but that just goes to show that the universe is a strange place," the school's disciplinarian Griselda stated.

This statement shocked all who new of her except of course for Faragonda who actually knew her. "You mean that you are not at all shocked that he is a demon, or that his friend is a demon," Stella blurted out.

"The universe is to big to be racist so I tend not to stereotype until the stereotype is proven or not," she said with a shrug.

"Well, back to the thing that matters, here is the keys to your marriage house on campus," Faragonda said giving them each a key to the house. "Also, here is a list of job openings and other methods of work you have available. There is also an opening at the Red fountain school for heroes," she said as she gave them options.

"Thank you, but at the moment he needs to train in order to fight at a tournament he is being threatened into fighting in," Bloom stated as she took the list from the headmistress.

"Is that safe," Griselda asked with concern.

"Safe or not, it is occurring and also do you have anywhere that I can train in an intense environment," Hiei asked with a neutral tone.

"The only space for big training like what I think you need is a cavern underneath the school," Faragonda answered in a concerned tone.

"Do not be concerned, he and the rest of the team can take care of themselves, and these early matches can help us to gain experience for what is to come," Kurama informed. "Also can someone open a portal to Tokyo Japan for me so I can also train for the tournament and check in with my mother."

So a portal opened up in the middle of the office to Tokyo Japan on Earth and Kurama was about to jump through it when he felt someone grab his shoulder. Turning around he found Hiei, "don't tell anyone about what you learned, I will tell them when and if I wish." With that said Kurama nodded and jumped into the portal to head back to his home so that he could prepare for the tournament.

"Why don't you want your friends to know your married, are you ashamed of me," Bloom asked in mock hurt since she knew that wasn't it.

"You know very well that is not why, it is my business who I tell and they already proved they can't keep a secret with what they told Yukina," he said with a stern look.

"Oh, I almost forgot that I have a sister-in-law that didn't know she had a brother," she said with a look of surprise.

"Yes well now you have an actual sister-in-law that does know she has a brother and a sister-in-law," Hiei said in a neutral tone.

"You know they really should have asked your permission before they did something like that," Bloom said in irritation and disdain.

He looked at her with a smile and said, "you know I love you right."

"I love you too, but what do you love me for right now," she asked with a smirk.

"You respect my wishes and understand them in a way nobody else ever has or will," Hiei answered without missing a beat. "Come on, before we begin training, I think we should go check out our current home."

As they were walking out Bloom asked with a smirk, "you really just want to do it on the new bed don't you?"

He looked at her with a smirk of his own and whispered into her ear, "can you blame me mistress," causing her to blush and grab his hand before they sprinted to their new home.

 **Three Months Later**

The three months past by fast with a lot of information gathered on both ends for Bloom and Hiei. Turns out that Bloom was the keeper of the Dragon Flame, a legendary power in the magical dimension. The Trix's schemes finally caught up to them after they tried to send nightmares after the Winx. They didn't, however expect for Hiei to have a jagan that can see through the nightmares. Now was the time for the tournament however, and he had just left for the place to meet up with the rest of his team the had been dubbed Team Urameshi.

"Hiei, it is good of you to join us this evening," Kurama said with a knowing smile as Hiei had just arrived to see him and Kuwabara waiting for him Yusuke and a still unknown fifth member.

"Do you know who the detective has chosen as our fifth member," he asked in return.

"Forget that, we don't see you for months on end and you just show up ready to fight like it's nothing," Kuwabara screamed.

"It is none of your business where I was, all you need to know is that I was training," Hiei said in a monotone voice.

'Will she be meeting us there or will she not be coming,' Kurama asked Hiei mentally.

'I was able to sneak out, hopefully she won't be able to find me with a locator spell so that I can fight without her worrying,' he replied.

"We need to get moving, anybody not here will have a hit-man sent after them," the captain of the ship replied.

"No need for that," came the voice of the detective from behind them. Turning around they were met with the tired face of Yusuke Urameshi and a masked fighter that came up to his waist.

"Don't do that Urameshi, you almost gave me a heart attack," Kuwabara exclaimed.

Hiei looked at the detective and noticed that he did get strong, but was he strong enough was the question. "Detective," was all Hiei said before he used his super speed to slash at him multiple times with Yusuke dodging them all.

"Wow Hiei, if that is how you greet friends after being away so long I can't wait to see how you greet enemies," Yusuke commented.

"I could barely keep up with any of that," the fool exclaimed.

"Don't be discouraged, that fact that you could keep up at all shows that you have improved as well," Kurama said.

"So am I to assume the little one over there is the fifth member of our team," Hiei guessed looking back towards the masked fighter.

"You mean this little guy here, he's even smaller than Hiei," Kuwabara said walking up to the fighter.

"Trust me, that one will be a lot of help to us," Yusuke said with a smile.

"Forget him, Yusuke, Kurama, and me is all we will require," Hiei said with a smirk.

"Let's get this show on the road people," the captain said as everyone filed on the boat.

The Dark Tournament is about to begin and that is not the only problem headed their way. In the magical dimension a Bloom was waking up to find a note to her from Hiei and it read, 'Bloom, I did not forget about you possibly coming to watch me fight. I just didn't want to wake up that beautiful sleeping face so I just went on ahead without you so you can meet me there. Or not seeing as how I never found out where it is we are going, only the rendezvous spot for the ship to take us there. Love I hope that you stay safe and don't get into trouble okay.'

"He better pray that he is dead when I find him, because if he isn't than I am going to kill him," Bloom screamed so loud that she caused Griffin, who was in her office at Cloud Tower, to look over in the direction of Alfea and mentally ask, 'what the fuck was that.'

* * *

 **Author's Note: Next chapter begins the Dark Tournament saga so be sure to give me reviews on any idea's you all have if you have any and care enough to.**


	4. What the Hell

**Demons and Fairies**

 **Chapter 4**

 **What the Hell**

The Winx Club were sitting around Stella's room waiting for Bloom to come over and explain her plan. They had all heard the outburst from this morning and new that they were going to be finding her husband with classes over for spring break. Not to mention that they will be watching a possible blood bath in a literal sense so everyone was nervous.

Bloom came through the door at that moment with a look of worry on her face and said, "I know this is a lot to ask of you, going and watching people get killed isn't really how I wanted to spend my break either."

"Don't worry Bloom, we know that you'd do the same for us so it's only fair," Stella chirped with a hug.

"Thanks girls, but now let's use the locator spell that I placed with the enchantment in his ring. I connects to mine so that I can always find him if we get separated for some reason," she said as they all formed a circle around the ring Bloom put on the table.

"What once was here, let be found, send the find through the great divide and let it be known through time. Let us know where you are, show us where you are from here to the end of time," they all chanted. When the chant was done, a hologram of the earth was shown and a dot on a island was the location of where they needed to go.

"Tecna, you got that location," Bloom asked as everyone let go and turned to said girl who nod her head. "Let's go, I need to find my husband and beat the hell out of him so he knows not to do this again."

"I'll open the portal," Stella said as she used her magic and created a rectangle portal and the group filed into it.

* * *

 **Hanging Neck Island**

The Winx came out of the portal on the other side and saw they were on an island that looked quite strange to the girls. They also just happen to have arrived in front of an arena of sorts that was quite substantially big.

"Alright Winx, let's see if we can find a ticket to buy so we can get in there," Bloom said as they others nodded and moved to find a ticket booth.

They got all of twelve steps before they found a lizard man selling scalped tickets for a few good seats. "Get your tickets here, wonderful seats where you can clearly see all of the blood guts and gore," the lizard offered to anybody who came near him.

"We would like to buy five if you have them," Bloom said as the Winx came and stood in front of him.

"No offence ladies, but this isn't your kind of thing, I suggest you leave before you vomit your guts out from the amount of blood," he said in a not so kind way.

That didn't sit well with the girls at all and instantly caused Flora to bind him in her vines as Musa snatched up all his tickets. Tecna encased his head in an electro sphere and Stella burned his irises. "How's that for not being our thing you weak fool," Bloom said as they left the beaten form of the scalper.

They handed the gatekeeper the tickets and headed straight inside and found that they were just about to start the second match with Kurama going against Roto. The Winx got a look at Kurama and saw that instead of a purple colored suit, he wore a white martial arts outfit.

They quickly found their seats, that just so happen to be behind where Keiko, Shizuru, and Botan were suppose to have been sitting. "I wonder why they haven't started to fight yet," Stella wondered.

"They will be shortly, we just have to be patient for the ref to start the match," Bloom said as she spotted Hiei and used magic to tried to pick up on the conversation he was having with what he called the fool.

"We will deal with the rest of their team, you relax," Hiei told the fool.

"Hey, I'm not out of this yet, if Yusuke doesn't wake up I'll take the last guy," Kuwabara said.

"We'll pray that doesn't happen," he commented smartly.

Just then a woman in blue hair ran to them in a orange flowery kimono, "alright boys I'm here, now let's whip this team into shape."

"Hey how'd you get here," the oaf asked.

"Leave, before you hurt yourself," Hiei told her not really caring.

"Well that's a jolly thing to say to the person who's going to help you win, don't you think," Botan replied.

"eh, you mean your like the replacement fighter for Urameshi," Kuwabara asked stupidly.

"No silly, ta da," she replied before taking off her kimono and revealing a pair of brown pants, yellow button up shirt, and red overalls. "In addition to detective's assistant and pilot of the river Styx, I'm also a licensed trainer." With the fool's dumb look, she elaborated, "I'll be looking after you all and making sure you stay at tip top shape for fighting."

The fool started unbuttoning his shirt while saying, "oh that's great, maybe you can help me nurse this wound here see I've," and that's as far as he got before Botan left to check on Yusuke.

Only for her to slap him while saying, "Spirit world to Yusuke, wake up, come on now."

"None of that will work, the boy is determined," Hiei pointed out.

"Well at least let me get him out of the way," Botan said before grabbing his feet and pulling him close to the wall and away from the ring.

The air now got thick as it was clear that the ref was about to start the match and see who would wind up on top in this fight. "You know that rose whip he's got must be ten feet long, where's he stash it. Only way I can think of is quite painful," Kuwabara asked and mentioned stupidly.

"Kurama simply caries a normal rose, by manipulating it with his spirit energy it's transformed into a whip, even weeds can turn into a deadly weapon for Kurama," Hiei informed him.

"Second fight, Roto vs Kurama, begin," the ref announced.

For a moment, neither moved before Roto began talking, "I know you've been spending years in the human world. We all do what we must, I just hope you didn't say, get attached to one of them, for example be mournful of death."

"That no good cheat, he's planning on using Kurama's mother as blackmail," Bloom informed the girls.

"Wouldn't that take away the victory and cause them to be disqualified," Flora asked.

"This tournament is for demons, the rules are basically just show in this kill or be killed environment," she said.

Roto turned his middle finger into a blade before Kurama calmly asked, "what is your point?" Already knowing the answer, Roto charged at the fox, but Kurama was easily able to dodge every strike, with a smile, with his eyes closed.

"He's clearly no match for Kurama, what a joke of a round, it's a pity you couldn't have taken and let Kurama deal with deal with the little child and his yoyos," Hiei commented.

"Hey, you watch it shrimpy, I just got cheated is all," Kuwabara defended.

With one final try, Roto made another strike, only for Kurama to dodge and come behind him and say, "your power wasn't enough for this tournament, say your last words."

Before the fox could strike with his hand, his opponent got a dark look and said, "I have your human mother Kurama, or should I say, Shuichi." With that, Kurama hesitated and left Roto time to attack and lay a scratch on Kurama's cheek before he leap back a safe distance.

"What happened, he's bleeding, you said no match," Kuwabara said clearly shocked at what happened.

Roto chuckled a bit before holding a trigger and said, "allow me to introduce my little button, and when I press it, a signal will be sent to my demon brother. He's been tracking your mother for some time you see, and he's been very anxious to bite her head off."

This news obviously made Kurama upset and forced him to put his arms down, knowing what the demon wanted from him.

The demon chuckled again, "so you understand," he said before leaping and punching Kurama in the face repeatedly without relenting. Until Kurama flicked a pebble to his face and caused him to stop his assault for a moment to look at the fox funny. "Oh honestly, do you think throwing a pebble at my face is the best thing to do in this situation. You've been warned and with a push of this button your mother will meat her death in a very unsightly manner. Now fold your arms behind your back and let me hit you as I please," Roto ordered and Kurama had no choice but to obey his command. "Oh that is much better, I love the posture of force submission, why train to be the best when you can hold onto one of these."

"Mysterious, Kurama has become completely obedient to his opponent," the ref announced.

"What's wrong Kurama let him have it," Kuwabara yelled as he was clearly oblivious.

"Quiet," Hiei ordered as he looked on with what seemed to be a stoic face, but he was actually thinking about what he would do if it were his Bloom on the other end of that button.

All around Hiei and the Winx they heard the demons cheering on the cheater and not at all caring that he was doing a bad thing.

Roto chuckled again as he walked up and stood in front of Kurama with his hands in his pockets before saying, "you want to try, I can see it in your pretty eyes. I know what your thinking, 'what if I can quickly cut off that left arm of his,' but what if the severed finger still presses the button."

"Kurama remains absolutely motionless, what is the cause, has he lost his willingness to fight," the ref announced to clearly get the crowd roaring.

"Why don't you answer her," Roto asked before kicking Kurama in the gut. "Tell the crowd the truth, that you refuse to fight for the sake of a human tramp," the demon said as he continually beat the motionless Kurama.

"It's brutal, it's violent, it's wonderful, Roto is punching him like a slab of meat and there's no retaliation," the ref announced to get the fans screaming for more.

Roto kept punching him, all the while Kurama had the same look of impassiveness on his face. Roto saw this and stopped punching him as he turned his right middle finger into a blade again and pointed it at his cheek. "I hate that look, despite all that I've done you still have that look like your superior to me," the demon made another cut on Kurama's cheek making an 'X.' "Stop that look," Roto exclaimed before he finished the cut with a large swipe of his bladed finger.

When Kurama straightened up, he still had the look in his eyes, and acted as if there wasn't anything wrong.

"It doesn't matter anyways, because I'm the one that has the power now," Roto said before lifting his foot up. "I would like you to lick the scum off my boot, I just can't seem to keep it clean, and after you wipe the whole thing clean, I will decapitate you and spare your nasty mother's life. Since you care for her Shuichi, it's your only choice," he said with glee.

"I will not, go ahead press it now if you wish," Kurama emotionlessly said as he dusted himself off and got a quiet gasp of shock from the Winx.

"And the true character emerges, your nothing special, nothing with class, just a selfish demon like all the rest of us here. Look at me like I'm dirt, but in the end it's a lie, you think of only yourself," Roto laughed as if he had won.

"Push it," the fox said as the demon began to try and push the button, but stopped because he could no longer move. Kurama walked over and knocked the button out of his hands before saying, "fighting on the strength of one threat is a very risky gamble. What if I truly didn't care, or what if I could just make you immobile?"

"It's hard to tell what's happening now, but it's clear that Kurama has control," the ref announced for the audience.

Kurama got into a stance and explained, "I've sowed the seed of the death plant in your body, and it's had plenty of time to take root."

That was when the girls and Roto realized the pebble that Kurama shot at the demon, it was to hide the seed.

"I feed it with my spirit energy, I have but to will it, and it will instantly bloom, and I'm afraid there won't be anything left of you evil life after that," Kurama said before walking away.

"Wait Kurama, you don't have to do this, I never would have actually pushed the button I swear it. I'm just a low class, I don't know anything, come on you believe in mercy don't you," Roto asked as if begging.

Kurama stopped before looking at him over his shoulder and said, "no," and the seed of the death plant sprang in full bloom. The man died instantly and from his corps sprang out flowers, and this did not go unnoticed by Kurama. "What irony, such beauty sprung from such ugly soil," with that he finished his walk to the rest of his team.

"Now that one's definitely over, the score is tied at one," the ref announced to them all.

"What a fool, so intent on proving himself he couldn't notice your moves. Don't worry about his demon friend, he vanished the moment Roto died," Hiei assured Kurama stoically.

"Then you knew," Kurama stated more than asked.

The girls couldn't believe it, this was the dark tournament, this was the fights that they had to go through just to live. "Your husband is going against similar things isn't he," Musa asked.

"More than likely, but I don't want him to, but I also know that he will have to in order to live," Bloom said with a shocked face.

"Will the next fighters please come forward," the ref announced with enthusiasm. Neither team moved a muscle, so she announced again, "next fighters forward. Again nobody moved and she was getting frustrated, "hello, what's a girl gotta do to get some new blood."

Just then, Zeru jumped up to the ring and walked to the center trying to look intimidating. "What, their team leader is fighting now," Kurama commented clearly a little disturbed by this development.

"But he should go last, maybe there's a mistake," Kuwabara said as he too was disturbed.

"No, Zeru is definitely the strongest of the four remaining, he's fighting angry, and it's obvious he's not taking this seriously enough," Hiei said with an almost smile.

"Yes and we're just the picture of professionalism," Botan commented as Yusuke continued to sleep.

"Urameshi team, can we get on with it here," the ref asked as she was clearly getting impatient.

"I'll go, this ones been irritating me ever since last night," Hiei said as he threw his blue scarf off of him and jumped in the ring.

"Team Rokuyokai's Zeru, team Urameshi's Hiei," the ref announced to the fans.

The two stared each other down until Hiei spoke up, "I know a great deal about your technique. You harnessed heat energy with such great precision that it resembled a knife cut, but one of the edges were sloppily melted. You have your flaws."

"As do you, I don't think I need advice from someone who has to use a fake eye," Zeru insulted.

"Fight," the announcer ordered, and just as she said it, Zeru ignited into flames and forced her back and out of the ring.

Hiei just stood there passively as Zeru said, "not intimidated yet," before cranking up the heat and sending even more flames from his body.

The flames reached all the way to the girls and, minus Bloom, had to keep it from burning them with their magic.

Hiei just chuckled at his opponents attempt, "I wouldn't laugh just yet," Zeru said as he brought forth fire from his hands and shot it towards him. Hiei was able to easily dodge and jump up to avoid getting blasted into dust and ash.

The ref came back into the ring and announced, "unfortunately Hiei was not chard by the fire, but there is more coming his way."

Indeed there was more coming his way, but he was easily able to leap, sidestep, and overall avoid getting hit. On blast hit the roof and fell into the crowd, and Shizuru commented, "these are some good seats," as they didn't get hit with anything. The Winx that were sitting behind them all nodded their heads without saying anything.

Hiei landed in the ring and looked rather board to be honest, while Zeru lightly chuckled. "Zeru's blows were fantastic, and Hiei was running for his life, along with a good deal of the fan-base," the ref announced.

"You've gotten so quiet, to frightened to notice any more of my supposed flaws," Zeru asked as he charged up another flame attack.

"Actually I'm board," Hiei said.

"Actually you're dead," as he unleashed a massive wave of fire into the air and made a massive cloud of fire. He concentrated while bringing his hands together with his left fist into his right palm.

The fire was being sucked back into his body directly and made the ref ask, "what's this," just as Zeru's skin and body began to change into a dark red hue. "His skin is changing and he seems to be engulfed in heat," she said as he was standing there covered in a red aura.

Instantly, Zeru shot forward and impaled his hand into Hiei's gut and out his back. He ignited into flames and was sent flying back as time seamed to slow down for the girls. "I'm not finished yet," the fire demon said before sending a concentrated blast of fire and seemingly disintegrating Hiei.

Bloom looked completely distraught, she didn't here anything as she just stared at where Hiei was. She looked back at all of their memorize, their love and how it came to this. She couldn't hold back her tears, but no noise came from her, or the Winx as they just witnessed a friend seemingly get killed.

She was only brought out of her daze when she heard Hiei bone chilling voice, "yes, he's so talented that I'm reluctant to make the kill." There he was from a torrent of flames, alive, burned all over, but alive and well, with a smirk on his face.

Everyone else was shocked, especially his opponent and the ref, "oh my, Hiei survived, he's on his feat, he's smoldering," she announced.

Zeru looked back and saw that he was standing there smirking, "you survived it all, but how could you?"

Just then a black flame burned the band from his forehead to reveal his Jagan eye. "I believe we've covered that, so my Jagan eye may not be natural, but it does give me exactly what I need. Dragon of the Darkness Flame!" He power up, and the whole arena got bright with the force of the power he was about to unleash.

"No wonder you two are a match, you both have the power of dragons at your disposal," Stella commented.

"I didn't know he could do that, he must have wanted it to be a surprise for when he returned form the tournament," Bloom said as she couldn't stop the tears and had to continually wipe them.

"Those are from the deepest pits of spirit world," Zeru said as he began to show true fear.

The sky darkened as Hiei unleashed black flames from his hands and black pillars of energy shot forth from the sea and into the sky all around the island. "You know it's impossible to control it completely, once I release it I have no say," Hiei said as his hand shook from the power of the flames. Black lightning seemed to crackle and unleash everywhere around them as everything went ominous, "I have the power to pull you into oblivion, I assume just my right arm will do."

Now Zeru was really scared and in the truest pits of despair as he stood motionless before the power Hiei possessed.

"You should never have insulted the Jagan eye, because you see, in a way it has it's own mind and loaths disrespect. Resisting it is something I would not do," Hiei said just as ominously as Zeru let out a muffled scream from fright.

"I realize that I'm suppose to stay, but in light of this situation we have here, retreat," the ref declared as she hid behind the ring.

"Dragon," Hiei started as his shirt was forcibly removed from his body from the power and gave Bloom a good show. "Of The Darkness Flame," a good sized dragon made from black flames and had a sense of death shot forth from his hand and headed for Zeru.

Zeru had no time to dodge or move as the flame engulfed him in sent his ashes to the side wall of the arena. The rest of the arena shook violently as the dragon erupted in power and gave everyone a sense of death and fear.

When it was done, the only thing left of the leader of team Rokuyokai was a outline of his form. The ref, back in the ring, asked, "where's Zeru," before spotting the impact point of the dragon and said, "there's his outline at least."

"Well he's definitely out of the ring," she said, clearly not realizing what happened.

"Believe me, he's not coming back, that sender's all that's left," Hiei said as he studied his burned hand.

"Yes then I suppose counting to ten would be a little ridiculous, let's give it up for Hiei," the ref announced.

"Yeah, we're punching our way to the top, Hiei can beat anybody with that move," Kuwabara said before deflating, "Hiei can beat anybody with that move. Am I listening to myself, what if he decides to be a bad guy again, what if he decides to shoot us with the dragon?"

Hiei came up to them and said, "don't worry fool, we've entered into an alliance and I'm not the type to break it. Of course after we win the tournament I can't guarantee a thing," and with that he walked off of the ring.

The rest of the fight seemed to go by in a blur with Urameshi waking and taking on a drunk who was the alternate, but what seemed to be it's most powerful member. The fight was interesting, but the knife edge death match was just brutal to the Winx.

Finally the match was over and Yusuke won the match, and Bloom thought up the perfect way to get back at Hiei for leaving her at home instead of taking her with him. She leap from her seat and sprinted down where the team was and leap straight over the wall. She ran and yelled out, "Hiei," before using her dragon's fire and drop kicking him in his face and knocking him into the ring.

"What the hell bitch," Yusuke screamed as he lifted his arms for a fight, Kuwabara went on guard while the masked fighter looked calm.

"Oh sorry, I didn't see you there, I just had to punish him for leaving me while I was in bed, with nothing but a note I might add," Bloom added brightly.

The collective thought throughout the arena was, 'what the hell,' as they watched him get beat by this woman none of them but a few people knew.

When the dust cleared, Hiei was looking fine and didn't have much of a scratch on him, except for his right arm of course. "Did you have to introduce yourself this way to my team, or was it for your own fun," Hiei asked.

"My own fun, I know how humiliating it can be for you to seem weak at any given time, this was punishment," Bloom said cheerfully.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here, and why did she come down and drop kick you and you being okay with that," Yusuke all but yelled.

Bloom smirked as she gave Hiei a look that said, 'sucks to be you,' making said demon go as pale as a ghost. She tilted her head cutely and asked, "why wouldn't I punish my husband for leaving me in the middle of the night."

That shocked everyone that wasn't a fairy, Kurama or Hiei themselves to the point of being on the verge of passing out. "You make it sound like I left you after a one night stand. I just didn't want you to endanger yourself by a stray blast so I hoped you wouldn't be able to track me."

"I planned for that, not going to say how, but I did and your in the doghouse now mister," Bloom told him sternly. "Now, let me see you arm, or do you want me to get Tecna to be your nurse again," she asked with a demonic grin.

That seemed to turn his attitude into a complete 180 as he just brought up his right arm for her to examine. "I am sorry, and I know that you know why I did it, but next time something like this happens, try not to make a scene," he said.

"Only if you promise to take me with you," Bloom asked.

"Fine, now let's go somewhere else without making a scene," Hiei told her as they began walking. However they stopped when they realized that nobody else in the entire arena was moving.

"I think that everyone done what Kurama did when he first found out," Musa guessed as nobody moved.

"Kurama was a demon, while most of these people are demons, I don't think the humans would have done that," tecna surmised.

Just then they heard a sound like glass shattering and looked in the direction and noticed that Toguro passed out and fell out of the window he was watching from. The announcer slammed into the ring as she was out cold at how someone could actually be married to the demon. Yusuke, Kuwabara, the masked fighter, and Botan all fell backwards and passed out as well. They looked up in the crowd and found that all of the demons had passed out as well, as well as the toddler they saw the first time Kurama came by.

"Let's go before more people pass out and blame it on us," Hiei said before taking his wife by her hands. "Before we go, Kurama, you should know that Bloom's pregnant," he lied to the fox for him to pass out as well, it worked. Before Bloom could question why he did that, "I'll tell you why when we get to the hotel."

By the time everyone regained consciousness, it was past sundown and everyone felt like they were waking from a bad dream. "Did anybody else have the dream where Hiei was married to some red haired chick," Yusuke asked.

"I had that one too, but then I had one after that dream where he was a dad as well," Kuwabara mentioned.

"What you had was no dream, except for that last part, Hiei is indeed a husband and living with her at her college," Kurama mentioned as he was leaned against a wall.

"How did you know, and why didn't you tell us," Yusuke all but yelled, actually he did yell.

"It wasn't your business to know, and Hiei threatened to terminate our friendship so I was more inclined to keep his secret," he replied calmly.

"I want to meet her, she seemed so nice and I bet that Yukina doesn't even know, the grouch," Botan guessed.

"Let's head to the hotel and see if they headed there," Yusuke suggested.

So they headed to the hotel and up to their hotel room looking rather ticked off and upset. What's even worse is that when they got there, four girls were in their room relaxing instead of their own room.

"Okay girls, who are you and why are you in our room," Yusuke demanded.

"Calm down Yusuke, these are the Winx Club, Flora, Stella, Musa, and Tecna. Winx, this is team Urameshi plus Botan, Yusuke and Kuwabara," Kurama introduced.

"Hi, so how long have you known Hiei," Stella asked brightly trying to disable any hostilities.

"Since he kidnapped my childhood friend," Yusuke informed dryly, "where is that little bastard anyway."

"Him and Bloom are there," Tecna pointed to inside the only actual bedroom in the place.

"They put a silencing spell on the room so we can't hear anything that goes on inside though," Musa informed.

"But if you ask nicely I could bring it down to gain a peak at what their discussing," Stella said slyly.

"Now that is my language, please do that," Yusuke yelled with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Let's do it then," she said as she concentrated, but was only to pull it open a small whole in the barrier.

"OH HOLY FUCKING SHIT, POUND MY PUSSY, YES, YES, FUCK ME, FUCK ME HARDER! MAKE ME YOUR BITCH, GIVE ME THAT GLORIOUS COCK AND MAKE ME YOUR BITCH!"

That ended the listening in on the conversation right then and there, and started a huge round of blushes from everyone in the room. By this, I mean everyone in the room: Botan, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Flora, Stella, Musa, and Tecna.

On the other side of the door Hiei and Botan were both snickering to themselves, that would teach their friends not to try and eavesdrop.


	5. Bad Ideas

Demons and Fairies

Chapter 5

Bad Ideas

Hiei and Bloom were walking through the forest on their way to a sea shore that was thought of as a good place to train. Hiei wanted to train alone, but Bloom insisted on coming along and heal him if he pushes himself too far with his still inured hand. The other Winx were all back at the hotel and staying there with the other visitors consisting of Botan, Keiko, and Shizuru. All they were doing is getting to know one another, although, she suspected that Flora was off with Kurama and learning about the new species of plants she could add to her arsenal, fairy of nature isn't just bound by common plants.

They reached the sea shore and Hiei began his training, he wanted to scream out in pain about his arm, but didn't as not to look weak in front of Bloom. Bloom saw this and wanted to say something, "if you're holding back looking weak in front of me, you forget that the band on our fingers is for all cases. In sickness and in health, and I think that an arm that shot off such a powerful attack is a good case of sickness, don't you." She walked up to him and began using her own dragon's fire to heal his injuries, and by the look in his eyes, Hiei felt some relief.

"You're right, sorry, I still don't like to be weak, but guess I need to work on that," Hiei stated as the pain was still killing him, but he couldn't let Bloom know that. The day drug on and the same process was enacted each time, Hiei would train until he couldn't take it anymore, then Bloom would try and heal him. This continued until the night, where they reluctantly went back to where everyone else was staying in order to get rest until tomorrow.

They met up with the other Winx and the married couple stayed with them instead with Hiei's team, and in the morning, they left without telling anyone to make their way to the arena. Hiei and Bloom were walking down a path to the arena when they were stopped by Kurama's voice, "is this wise you two?"

They looked up and saw Kurama, as well as Flora on a tree, "what do you mean," Hiei asked as he put up with the pain in his arm as to not look weak in front of the fox.

"It won't be easy to win without the use of your dominant hand," Kurama stated.

"Perhaps you should withdraw for the time being until your arm can completely recover," Flora suggested.

"Hugh, you know what Toguro said, we don't have a choice in this matter," Hiei stated before him and Kurama sensed something. "If we don't make it through this tournament, he will kill us all, fighting is our only way out," two demons approached them, one with blonde hair, the other with gray.

"It seems the doctor's team has gotten lost," Kurama pointed out.

"Yes, what a horrible coincidence for us both," Hiei commented himself as the two groups stared down each other. The gray haired demon maid the first move and began running at them ready to strike, but Hiei and Kurama were faster and used their sword and rose whip to kill the man in an instant. Hiei looked back and ignored the shock from the blonde demon, "and that was using my left arm Kurama."

"I'm sorry, I was using my right, next time I'll use my left arm to be fair," Kurama commented before both demons turned to the blonde demon.

"Would you like to try us next," Hiei asked as he pointed his sword at the demon who just chuckled at them.

"Thanks, but I'd rather not, death gives me the shivers," he said as he brought up a remote control of some kind and pushed a button on it. There was a beeping sound before a giant robot appeared out from within the woods. It was black and gray with only one red eye and looked a little menacing to the group of demons and fairies. "Gatasubal is what we like to call him, one of the doctor's earlier projects, part demon, mostly machine, no feelings, no pain, and no fear, go Gatasubal, destroy those two low lifes."

The machine began walking to them as the prepared themselves, "Bloom, you and Flora transform and take to the skies and avoid the fight with the machine directly," Hiei ordered. They nodded and transformed into their fairy forms, Bloom into her blue regular outfit, and Flora into a pink dress that Kurama was a little stunned by, but got over it for the fight.

The machine launched its extendable arms at them and they dodged to the side in opposite directions, Kurama used the trees to help him maneuver while Hiei used his speed until he got the arm stuck in a tree trunk. Hiei then tried to cut the arm with his sword, but it didn't even leave a scratch, 'not a scratch,' he thought.

The blonde demon chuckled a bit, "Gatasubal's whole body is covered in a special formula of hibernized metal, combining the hardest steel with actual living cells, no substance in the whole world can break it."

Hiei dodged an attack by jumping upwards, "maybe I can't kill the beast, but at least I can still kill you," he said before descending towards the demon. The machine knew this though and attacked Hiei as he descended and caused him to dodge and as he landed, he used his injured hand where he fell to the floor in agonizing pain. The robot arm came for him and crashed the injured Hiei into a tree and pinned him to it.

"See the genius of the doctor's work, it has no feelings or thoughts to distract, it thinks only of the kill," the demon informed with a chuckle.

"I can appreciate that," Hiei stated as he raised his left arm to prepare an attack, but stopped as Kurama used his quick thinking to cause the other arm to crash into the pinning arm. This caused significant damage to the arm and both arms crashed into the ground and seemingly crushed the fox, it created a dust cloud so what really happened couldn't be seen.

"Excellent Gatasubal, now kill the other one too," the demon ordered, but something was wrong, the machine wasn't moving, not an inch, "what's wrong with you, I said kill."

"You were wrong on two counts," the voice of Kurama was heard by the demon, he looked and saw that the fox was there with his rose whip in the arm of the machine.

"I'm wrong, what do you mean, what just happened," the demon asked as he looked on in fright.

"Even the hardest substance can be broken when crashed into itself, and the ability to feel pain is not a weakness, it's a strength. Pain tells a creature its vulnerabilities, and not to expose them to attack, your robot is dead, and so I'm afraid, are you," Kurama stated as the demon began backing away.

* * *

Later

Hiei and Kurama arrived after throwing the robot and the demon from the other team in the ring, the arrived with Bloom and Flora flying down to the ground as they jumped and landed on the shoulders of the downed machine.

"Hey guys, you're late," Yusuke stated as the whole arena broke out into shocked murmurs and some silence as well.

"Bloom, you and Flora go back to the rest of the Winx, we'll handle the rest," Hiei told his wife who nodded and left with Flora to do as he asked, in standard Hiei fashion.

"The missing members of the Urameshi team has appeared as well, Hiei and Kurama, can you tell me where you've been," Koto, the ref, asked.

"Sorry, a thirty-foot killing machine wanted a word with us," Hiei stated stoically.

"M5 told us everything, I'm relieved you three are still alive, verrucae on the human fighter's backs are the source of Dr. Ichigaki's mind control. In their present state, I'm afraid it would be fatal to remove them, the three are completely innocent, they didn't know the implants would control them. They were told it was blood research," Kurama informed as Kuwabara go very angry at the news.

"I told you guys, that no good liar," Kuwabara exclaimed.

"That's not the extent of it I'm afraid, it seems the doctor caused their master's illness in the first place," the fox announced to the team. The doctor himself was just laughing like a mad man while everyone was shocked he would do such a thing, although most demons didn't really care.

What was next was a callus speech from Dr. Ichigaki about how smart he is and the true purpose of the verrucae. Then Kuwabara doing something so stupid as to actively take the hits from all three of those controlled fighters, and even the Winx club thought he was stupid for it. Yusuke got his spirit powers back and fought against the three opponents, and then the masked fight stopping Yusuke from delivering the final blow. Then she used a chant to detach the verrucae from the fighter's bodies and winning the match for them.

Then the rest of the team confronting the doctor who turned into a giant green monster before giving the team a little trouble. The monster doctor however, was soon dispatched by Yusuke while listing all the reasons why the doctor was about to die. Then the fighters whose bodies were controlled were awoken and they found out that she used what was called the spirit wave technique to use their own spirit energy to free themselves. All in all, it was a rush of emotion and the entire thing left the Winx Club teary eyed and smiling, then the crazy happened.

There was a dinging sounding all around the arena before a voice was heard, "may I have your attention please, the third round of the dark tournament will begin immediately."

"What, give me a break," Yusuke yelled out in outrage at the announcement.

"Furthermore, the tournament committee has unanimously decided to begin the round in accordance to the match diagram starting to the left, Team Urameshi and Team Masho, please report to the ring," the voice said.

"What, again," Hiei asked in annoyance as he looked to see Bloom having a worried look on her face so he mouthed, "don't worry," so she would calm down.

Yusuke ran to Koto and got right in her face as he yelled out, "hey, why don't you tell your stupid friends up there to let one of the other teams fight."

"I'm sorry sir, if you have a complaint you'll have to take it up with the committee, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for their decision," Koto nervously stated.

The demons didn't care about fairness though, they were all yelling for blood, and the team knew whose blood they wanted. "Okay, if a double header's the call, I might as well enjoy it, I've got plenty of anger left from the troll doctor anyway," Yusuke stated.

"Team Masho, this is your final call, enter or be disqualified," Koto asked using the microphone as they had waited for the fights long enough. Soon a small tornado came out of nowhere and dropped off five very scarily dressed people. "And here they are people, appearing in the same mysterious fashion as always, Team Masho."

"and why do I get the feeling, this'll be a tough one," Yusuke rhetorically asked himself before Kuwabara soon came back into the ring after being took out in a stumbling mess.

"Why would he return to this mess, wouldn't the more logical thing to do is stay in the sick bed," Tecna asked as she saw the fool return.

"From what I remember about Hiei mentioning the guy to us, he's a fool that only thinks of a ridiculous code of manly honor," Musa pointed out.

"That does explain why he refuses to stay down when the rest of his team is out fighting," Flora commented to them.

"You got that right, my little bro doesn't know the meaning of the words smart move," Shizuru said from in front of the girls.

"Normally I wouldn't so something as that about someone, but it does seem to be the case," the nature fairy commented again.

"Guys, I think the captains decided," Stella pointed out as the captains did indeed decide on a match type, five wins is what was needed to advance.

"They're on a roll Shizuru, they can do it," Keiko stated in certainty.

"I'm not sure what tournament you're watching, half the team I'm rooting for can't even walk now," Shizuru commented as she saw the shape of the team.

The bell was heard again and a pit in their stomachs dropped, "may I have your attention please, the tournament committee will be issuing a medical examination before the next round. Do to Team Urameshi fighting without rest and accordance to section thirteen of the tournament index, report to the medical tent."

Soon the tent was seen by everyone and a nurse with red hair like Bloom came out from it and made her way over to Team Urameshi. "Hello gentlemen," she said as she raised her arm and seemingly scanned all but Kuwabara and stopped on Hiei and the masked fighter. "Yes, you two fighters, would you please follow me to the medical tent," she asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, we don't need medical attention, why don't you go nurse the fool lying on his back," Hiei stated.

"Because his wounds do not interest me in the ways that yours do Hiei, and maybe I can help you," was her answer.

'What do you think,' Hiei thought out to Bloom and asked her opinion of the subject.

'Well, I don't trust her, but we've tried all that we can using my minimal healing abilities, so maybe if we used a different method it might work,' Bloom thought back to him. He wordlessly followed after them and went to the medical tent where they both knew something was about to happen.

"Are you experiencing any fatigue or any sharp, reoccurring pains," the nurse asked.

"No," was the masked fighter's simple answer.

"And you Hiei, surely that last attack had some effect on you," she asked him directly.

"Why do you ask, isn't it your job to know," Hiei asked her back stoically.

"Hm, it must be hard to fight with your arm in excruciating pain," she commented as he growled, "clearly you both will have to stay with me until your health has improved.

"I don't go where people tell me to lady, you can treat yourself," he stated before he began to walk away, only for an electrical barrier to force both he and the masked fighter to stay in place.

Bloom saw this and she immediately speed into action in her fairy form and flew down saying, "give me my husband back you witch."

"Didn't you hear the announcement, your husband and his teammate are very sick, they're going to need a little time to recover," Ruka the enchantress said. Her spirit power raised and she forced Hiei and the masked fighter back further into the fake tent as Bloom growled.

"That energy thread, it uses their own spirit energy against them, the more they struggle, the more powerful it will become," Kurama informed.

"As a result of the medical examination, Hiei and the masked fighter have been ruled unfit to fight, they will sit out the rest of the round while they are suitably treated," the voice over the intercom stated.

"Like I care, you better release them or else," Bloom threatened from where she stood in front of Ruka.

"Will the one known as the wife of the demon Hiei please return to your seat, if you do not, your husband's team will be disqualified," the voice over the intercom said.

"Go Bloom, I will be fine, she can't hold us forever," Hiei grounded out as he struggled to move.

"Fine, but the moment you let them go, I'll kill you myself," Bloom warned as she returned to her seat in the stands. "I really want to kill that witch now, and nobody better try and talk me out of it," she warned her friends who all chuckled nervously at the glare she was giving them.

"And it's Kurama vs Gama, you may begin," Koto announced as everyone turned their attention to the fighters and saw Kurama approach this carefully.

Gama took two tools out from his belt, each in one hand, they glowed and when the glowing died down, two paint brushes were revealed to the crowd. "Tell me demon traitor, what does the word makeup bring to mind, human females no doubt, a little gloss to attract the next mate. Disgusting isn't it, the way humans manage to bastardize everything they touch, over centuries human influence has infected the spirit world as well. Now few demons even know of its original power," Gama said as he began doing something that attracted the girl's attention, he put on makeup.

"Red eye-liner, blue lipstick, I think I'm going to be sick," Stella exclaimed as she saw the horrible fashion she was witnessing, not the blood and gore, but the fashion mishaps.

"He said it's original power Stella, maybe this means that something big is about to be revealed," Musa guessed as they got a huge surprise, the makeup on the guy caused his energy to skyrocket.

"Now I haven't seen that one before, Gama has covered his whole body in some kind of face paint and now his spirit energy is going insane," Koto announced. Gama made the first move as he moved in for a big and powerful blow, but was dodged by Kurama but forced the fox to go on the defense as he wasn't letting up on the assault.

'He's playing a dangerous game, waiting to gauge the enemy's weakness before he attacks, he could at least draw his weapon,' Hiei's voice rang through Bloom's head.

'I know, and I don't know how far the anticipation can drive Flora either, she likes Kurama and this danger is killing her,' Bloom thought back.

"Comfort her the best you can, this will not end well, no matter what we do,' he informed her.

Bloom put a comforting hand on Flora's hand and gave it a little squeeze to for comfort, that seemed to calm Flora's nerves a little and let her relax a bit.

"I know all about your plant concoctions Kurama, and I don't plan on giving you time to make them, let me demonstrate what I mean," Gama stated as he kept going for Kurama. The fox eventually tripped and that's when Gama went for his brushes and marked the fox as he jumped back to a safe distance, but found he couldn't move his left leg after the jump.

"If you don't mind me asking, what have you done to me," Kurama asked as he had to take a knee.

"Your leg feels like a giant block of lead, doesn't it," Gama asked rhetorically since he knew the effects his own makeup had on his opponents.

"So that's the power of makeup, if I could style it how I wanted, I wouldn't mind using it to increase my own power," Stella said thoughtfully out loud.

"You going around supercharged with makeup enhancements is a bad idea, plus from what Hiei told me, some powers need to be done a certain way, this makeup power seems to be one of them," Tecna stated.

"Why would he tell you that, are you two buddies now," Musa asked her curiously.

"No, I wanted knowledge and I caught Hiei in a good mood one day after classes and talked to him about demons and such," she stated.

"Why try to fight the inevitable," Gama asked and brought the girl's attention back to the fight in time to see Kurama start to limp away. "The makeup of death has already marked you Kurama, there's no hope for escape."

"Gama's makeup seems to take on a reverse effect when painted on his enemies, and with Kurama barely able to walk, Gama's slowly moving in on his target like a tiger stalking his wounded pray," Koto announced.

Just then, Gama rushed ahead of Kurama and turned back with paintbrushes drawn and finished painting Kurama's other limbs, before saying "hahaha, the costume is completed, the makeup of chains. Go ahead and try to limp away now, and don't be naïve enough to think getting rid of your cloths can change a thing. Nearly two thousand pounds of wait is chained directly to your skin," now Gama began jumping around and getting Kurama in different angles for an attack.

"Kurama's arms and legs are completely useless, he can do nothing but stand and wait for his bloody demise," Koto announced.

Gama now finally got a good angle on the fox and was ready to make his move, "and now you die demon traitor," the demon growled as he moved in for the kill. Just as he was about to end Kurama, the fox said, "rose whip," and used a rose whip from his hair and cut the demon eight times with the whip.

"Now that's how you use a plant, but I'm sorry that it took a life," Flora said with a little sadness in her eyes.

"I guess I can't get any makeup power ups now," Stella moaned out in a pout while the other girls laughed at their friend

"Only an amateur relies on arms and legs for victory," Kurama stated out as Gama was kneeling in front of him and bleeding out.

"An unbelievable one eighty people, Kurama has somehow taken control of this fight," Koto announced as she got over her shock.

"Damn you, don't take the credit for this, I've killed myself on this day by not sealing your spirit energy as well," Gama groaned out while in pain.

"Don't waste your breath in conversation, I know with the power you're using to restrain me you could easily heal your injuries, release me and I will let you walk away with your life," Kurama offered.

"Convincing aren't you, but the battle isn't over yet," he groaned out again.

"Even with my arms and legs bound, you are in no shape to fight me, don't die pointlessly Gama, you're too intelligent for that," the fox tried to sway. Gama got up and began walked to Kurama and tried to punch him with a right, but Kurama dodged the attack with ease. "Don't move, you'll bleed to death if you try to fight," again the fox was attacked for his efforts, "it's of no use, be wise." More attacks came, and more attacks were dodged, each leaving a splatter of blood on Kurama's clothing, but the fox was too concerned with Gama's needless sacrifice.

Finally, Gama's body gave way from under him and he fell to the floor, "that was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," Koto announced and began the countdown.

"You are correct after all, it's wholly your fault that you die in vain, I cannot pitty you," Kurama commented, but something was wrong, Gama was smiling.

"The death is yours, you never asked me what gave my makeup it's power, what made it different from the makeup of those other human fools. The difference is the main ingredient Kurama, it's made of my blood, I have given you the makeup of the seal. It's what I should have done from the start, I've sealed your spirit energy, your entire power trapped inside your body, even as I fade the effect will live on, I've secured victory for my shinobi set. So, I die knowing that it is not in vain," Gama explained before he finally passed on and left his team to finish what he started.

"Urameshi team takes the first point will the next fighters please approach the ring," Koto announced as the next masked fighter stepped forward.

The hooded figure took off his cloak and revealed him to be a man with blue hair and four green strands over his left eye. "It's Toya, the master of ice, get him out of there Yusuke," Hiei pleaded out loud but it was still inside of Bloom's head.

"You fought bravely Gama, I assure you, your death will be honored, Kurama will pay," Toya stated to the fallen shinobi as he glared at the fox.

"Alright people, time's up, by the rules I must consider those in the ring, the next opponents, that means it's Kurama vs Toya," Koto announced.

"This is very bad, isn't it," Musa asked to nobody unparticular.

"Yep, but if anyone can pull a win out of their but, it's any friend of little bro," Shizuru stated.

"It's hopeless," Hiei stated as he forgot that the link was still on so Bloom heard everything that he said or heard himself.

"Kurama still as one weapon he can use, time, the first curse should ware off soon, and Kurama will be able to move, if he can stall Toya long enough, perhaps he can regain his energy too," the masked fighter theorized.

"That's nice, but I'd rather stay realistic," he said back to her as he checked on Bloom and the others again to see how they were fairing.

"We're fine, just worry about getting out of there, and when you do, you leave that bitch to me," Bloom thought with a dark chuckle that made Hiei gulp a little.

"Please answer me one thing first, why, the shinobi have always dealt with their affairs in secret, why expose yourselves now," Kurama asked to stall for time.

Toya took a moment to answer before saying one word, "light."

"Explain," the fox pressed as a means to stall for more time, he could obviously still feel the effects of the curse.

"It's simple, even the strongest tree will die if left in the dark, I find that's the best way to describe us, a giant oak crashing through the soil bringing order to an otherwise chaotic land. The shinobi have done their job for centuries, and done it well, but in recent years we have caught glimpses of the outside world and asked, 'why not us, have we not earned the privilege others take for free?' We are entering a new era, and we will begin with a land of our own, this island, it has already been arranged that if we when the tournament, hanging neck island will be our prize. And when this blinding light pours over us all like branches we will cover the world," Toya explained.

"Hmpf, the ninjas are revolting," Hiei commented.

"The shinobi have existed for centuries by one master passing on his knowledge to one apprentice before he dies, the previous masters must have made poor selections, these fighters don't know their place," the masked fighter stated.

"I don't give a damn about their internal disputes, the only important thing is how strong they are, I've fought my share of ice warriors, Seiryu the blue dragon fell to my sword quickly enough, but he was no master. He was a fool who thought he could get by on half of his lessons, but if there is any true ice master, anyone who completed the full training that his master intended that knows the art of ice, it is Toya," Hiei stated.

"Let's cease with the conversation, I know you're simply trying to buy time for that seal to wear off," Toya guessed.

"I admit, you've caught me with my hands red," Kurama admitted.

"You boys are having way too much fun, begin," Koto announced so the match could start and the demons could see some bloodshed.

"Gama made the mistake of giving you too much time to think, not me," Toya said before he raised his power to the point where the ring froze.

"What's that, COLD, Toya's jetting his power to freezing air and this girl's wishing she had worn warmer tights," Koto commented.

"Your own climate control, that's very impressive," Kurama commented.

"In addition to improving my attacks, it will serve as a barrier, giving you fewer options for escape," Toya said as green balls formed in his hands that turned into dozens of white lights in his hand. "Even with your energy sealed I must admit that I'm somewhat hesitant to get near you, what with your little rose whip maneuver, you understand, I prefer to kill long distance, shards of winter." Kurama, who was finally able to move, was only slightly able to dodge some of the volley of ice headed his way.

"It seems Kurama can finally move his arms and legs again, but it may not be in time to dodge this assault," Koto announced. Kurama began to move and run as fast as he could as Toya followed and began to blow wave after wave of his attack at him. "Despite awesome acrobatics, Kurama can't avoid these razor-sharp blades of ice." Finally, a few hit Kurama and force him down to the ground, "and Kurama hits the deck."

"Hurry Yusuke, what are you standing around for, get in there and save your friend's life," Keiko yelled out to them.

Shizuru took the cigarette out of her mouth before saying, "don't bother, you know it's against the rules for him to do that."

"It's somebody's life, who cares about the dumb rules, get in there Yusuke," Keiko yelled out to him.

"Well, there's a change of attitude," she commented as the Winx nodded along with the elder Kuwabara.

Kurama began to slowly get back up and to his feet, "that hit was not enough to beat you, I know that you stayed down intentionally in another attempt to buy time. I don't suggest you trying it again," Toya advised before they both acted. Kurama used his own blood to try and get rid of the seal, at least, that's how it looked to the Winx. "Now don't underestimate Gama's abilities, it'll take much more than smearing to get rid of that seal."For a moment it looked like Kurama could access his rose whip, but that was quickly put to rest as he grunted out in pain. "I see, you've noticed inklings of your spirit energy inside your blood, to release enough to beat me you'd have to bleed yourself dry."

Toya attacked again and this time, Kurama wasn't able to dodge, "I know that facial expression, pure, lovely, excruciating agony, and yet he's still trying to get up, he's determined to take some more," koto announced. Kurama slowly got back up, "he's back on his feet, the fight continues."

Then it looked like Toya realized something, "you really are dangerous aren't you, I haven't been making direct hits, you've been blocking your vital points with your own body, you must be very old, experienced, perhaps as I am."

"More alike than you know, now tell me, this new life on the outside, what do you truly plan to do with it," Kurama asked.

"The world will know just as soon as we get there," was his answer.

"Kurama used his own body as a shield, who would do such a thing for a single match," Tecna asked.

"It's not just the match, it's the fact that if Kurama falls here, he knows that Yusuke will have to take on four opponents in a row, but if Kurama could find a way to take out Toya, the team would have a chance," Bloom stated.

"Don't assume," Kurama said almost in a whisper, that was where there was realization in Toya's eyes, and not a moment later was when the ice master made a blade of ice.

"Wow people, Toya's made a sword out of ice, it's the barbaric finish we've been waiting for," Koto announced as everyone else was helpless but to look on.

Toya ran for Kurama and forced him to dodge and kept on him and wouldn't let up until Toya was sure he could take Kurama down, and in one moment, Toya was able to make a deep cut on Kurama's left forearm.

Flora obviously sensed something because her eyes shown it, so Bloom had to ask, "what do you sense, has Kurama pulled something?"

"I think, but I don't want to give anything away that might put his plan in motion," Flora said with a little hope and worry in her eyes.

"It seems I've gotten to know you quite well in such a short fight, and I rather like you, let's not let this slay ruin our friendship," Toya said.

"My thoughts exactly," Kurama said before running.

"Now you shouldn't have run, I can't ensure a painless death that way," the ice master said before running after Kurama. Soon Toya caught up with the fox and in one swift motion, Toya went for his heart but Kurama made a move of his own. A plant came from himself and grabbed the blade while also impaling his opponent, "but how, your energy is locked inside you, how could you manipulate your death plant?" That was when Toya saw a shocking sight, "insane, you actually sowed the seed of the death plant into your own body."

"It was my only option, my power is locked inside, by inserting the seed into my open wound, the plant could enter my bloodstream and take root in my imprisoned energy," Kurama explained.

"You really are something," Toya stated before going down for the count.

"That's a very creative way to fight, I wonder what that just did to his body though," Tecna mentioned.

"I don't know, and I'm not sure if I want to, but when he's back on his feet I'm going to see how he thought it up," Flora stated.

"Oh, does Flora have a crush on a certain fox," Stella asked in a teasing voice.

"And if I do," the nature fairy asked her friend back.

"Then we'll have two demons on our side, a fire demon and a fox plant demon-human hybrid or whatever Kurama is with a soul of a demon in him," the sun fairy answered.

"Kurama wins, please update the scoreboard," Koto requested as everyone with Team Urameshi cheered.

"You have won the match I admit, please kill me," Toya bit out to Kurama.

"I will not, you never answered what you plan to do with this island, if you get it, because I too have spent years in shadow, interesting how unexpected regret can appear. That's what this light does, I only wanted to know if you can make your life better, nobler than mine has been," Kurama stated as he passed out again while standing up.

Koto went to check on his vital signs and made the announcement, "Kurama still has a faint heartbeat, it appears he has slipped into unconsciousness while still on his feet."

"That's the third time I've seen someone do that, I'm pretty sure that isn't normal, not by a long shot," Tecna guessed.

"Hey fox girl, just so we're clear, the rest of the fights are all mine," Yusuke yelled to the announcer.

"Not so fast," came the voice of a muscular man from the other team as he approached, "you forgot something, he's standing in the ring, yes, it looks to me that he's volunteering to fight again."

"Oh give me a break, Kurama's not even conscious anymore, I'm taking this fight," Yusuke yelled back.

Koto looked in-between them for a second as if unsure of what to do before saying, "alright, team captain decides, Yusuke vs Bakken."

Then the worst thing happened when the voice over the intercom came on, "correction, the next fight will be Kurama vs Bakken, a fighter in the ring cannot be removed against his will, as will cannot be determined here, the fighter remains."

Hiei had enough stepped forward before Ruka got in front of him with the force field between them, "don't try it Hiei, unless you want another close encounter with my force field."

Bakken picked up Koto by her back collar and spoke, "looks like you're not needed here anymore kitten," before tossing her out of the ring. "Now that the ruff is out of the picture we can really have some fun," Bakken punched Kurama across the ring.

Everyone was very mad about that, Bloom noticed that Hiei's mind tensed up when he saw the hit on his friend, so she sent a calming aura to him to help release the stress.

Bakken walked up to Kurama and said, "you look so peaceful with your little flowers," before kicking the limp body.

"Kurama is definitely down Bakken, step away so I can start the count and do my job," Koto stated before going to do the ten count.

"You must think you're a comedian, nobody humiliates my sept and gets to slip away with a ten count," he said before walking to Kurama and picking him up. "Oh look, he's on his feet again, I guess that means he wants more," and again punched him, but this time in the gut and kept beating Kurama as Bakken held him up until the shirt holding him tore.

Koto chose that moment to get between Bakken and Kurama, "stop, I'm all for extreme pain and torture you disgusting horse, but this guy's not even awake to enjoy it, I'm taking a ten count."

"Count yourself out then," Bakken said before knocking Koto away with a smack, "we're making the rules now, not you." He walked up to Kurama and picked him up by the shirt, "I'll just break your face now," he stated before preparing to cave Kurama's head in.

"Bakken, stop," one of the still cloaked figures called.

"Why Risho," Bakken asked.

"Lay him outside of the ring," Risho ordered.

"But he's killed out sect members," Bakken argued.

"Yes, and if you had landed that punch, you would have died as well," Risho informed and when Bakken turned around, not only was Yusuke standing there and aiming his spirit gun at him, but a large plant was ready to impale him. "Or do you think you would've survived a bullet in the back, or a plant impaling your heart. It's clear that Yusuke cares more about that demon's life than this tournament, he's ready to fight every apparition in this stadium if he must. That plant seems to come from an ally of theirs with deep feelings for the demon as well, and it will end with the same result, we need to win, not be involved in a revolt."

"You're getting soft Risho, you'll end up like Gama and Toya, if this prize is what we really want, then we shouldn't be making concessions, but fine, take your precious buddy," Bakken stated before tossing Kurama out of the ring.

"Well I think we can all agree that Kurama will stay outside the ring, just change the blasted board already," Koto announced irritably.

"Your friend got a lucky reprieve," Ruka commented as Yusuke took Kurama's unconscious form away from the ring.

"So did you, witch, or should I say, so did everyone else in this stadium," Hiei commented.

"Yusuke and that plant weren't the only ones about to attack, so was Hiei, and their combined power wouldn't have been contained in the ring, Risho felt it, didn't you," the masked fighter asked.

"Hiei mounting an assault, well that's very funny, have you forgotten you're trapped inside my force-field," Ruka stated.

"Drop the act, Ruka, you've already realized you can't keep us in here for much longer, our powers are returning and yours will stay as meager as always," the masked fighter stated.

After that was the fight between Bakken and Yusuke, that fight grossed the girls out because of his use of sweat in order to fight. Then Yusuke gave him some just deserts as he completely demolished Bakken.

Then Bloom noticed something, Hiei's arm is actually improving, meaning that Ruka's force field actually has a healing element to it, something that doesn't clash the powers of opposite dragons. She was a little hurt at that, but as long as Hiei gets healed, it didn't matter how as long as it helped.

Then there was Yusuke's fight with Jin, all the while the girls complained about how the wind was messing with their hair. Jin using a tornado fist and taking out some of the audience, something that Koto called audience participation. Then Yusuke using a point-blank spirit gun on Jin's second tornado fist and causing a massive explosion that forced Hiei to see if Bloom was alright.

Finally, was the use of Genkai's signature spirit wave by Yusuke to finally take out Jin, and sending him flying in the air. Shizuru sensed him coming and warned the group to get out of the way, and so they did and when Jin came crashing down, he landed right where they were sitting. He was sent toppling to the ground and took out as many of the demons as he could along the way.

Then the tournament committee turning over Yusuke's win and ruling the fight a double out, and therefore forcing Hiei to almost release all the power he's reformed. Yusuke was about to go off as well before the unexpected happened, Kuwabara came into the ring and decided to take the fight so they wouldn't have to lose the whole tournament.

Bloom soon noticed that Keiko and Shizuru left but knew they could at least take care of themselves in some form at least. She watched the fight and had to say, the fool was very messed up to get hit over and over and each time getting back up. She looked at Hiei and noticed the same thing on his face and noticed something else as well, Kuwabara's life energy was being tapped into.

Soon Kuwabara actually did do an emotional speech to the rest of the team, then he made the move to end the fight using all his life energy, but an unlikely thing happened. Yukina showed up at the last second and Kuwabara got a boost of spirit energy from his love of her, and finally beat Risho. Kuwabara just barely was able to get back to the ring when Koto finished her count.

Ruka let down the barrier and Bloom made her move before anyone could stop her, Bloom appeared in front of her faster than Ruka could follow and looked cruelly at her. "You thought you could lock away my husband from me, you have just sealed your fate," she said before casting a spell to actually burn the woman alive. This wasn't a normal burn alive though, this was a burning alive on the minimal of heat required for someone to be burned. Ruka was left there as she was burning from the inside out for as long as Bloom could hold the heat and temperature, or until Ruka died, whichever came first.

"Why on earth is my sister here instead of at a safe place, Bloom I'm fine with since she can protect herself, but Yukina I'm not sure about," Hiei stated.

"I know, but I get the feeling that nobody is going to touch her from now on," Bloom said as she stood right beside him. "You do know that this means you'll have to introduce us, don't you," she asked with a cheeky grin.

"I know, I just didn't think it would be this soon, I was hoping that we could wait until after and that we could settle in somewhere first," he mentioned.

"I don't know about you but the only place I know of to settle is back in Magix, unless you still have a trick up your sleeve," she asked suspiciously.

"Of course I still have something, but I won't tell you until after the tournament, now let's let you meet the rest of your family," Hiei suggested as they walked over to Yukina.

As soon as Yukina saw them, she ran away from Kuwabara, whom deflated, and ran to Hiei and Bloom with everyone else looking on. "You didn't tell me you found her, but I guess you two were having too much fun," Yukina stated before turning to Bloom. "Hello, I am Yukina of the ice apparitions, and the sister of Hiei, as well as your sister-in-law, it's very nice to meet you."

"It's good to meet you as well, now give your sister a hug," Bloom said before scooping up Yukina in a hug and was rewarded with a hug in return.

"Great, now that your done with introducing one another, let's leave the arena and stop drawing attention to ourselves," Hiei suggested as he made his way back to the hotel.


	6. A Great Loss

Demons and Fairies

Chapter 7

A Great Loss

That night, Hiei and Bloom were hanging out with the other Winx as they were introducing themselves to Yukina. "Hi, I'm Flora, the fairy of nature," Flora introduced herself first with a small bow, all that time with Kurama was sure helping.

"I'm Stella, princess of Solaria and fairy of the shining sun," Stella said in a chipper tone and a wave of her hand.

"I'm Musa, fairy of music," Musa said with a wave as well.

"I'm Tecna, fairy of technology," Tecna simply stated.

"I'm Bloom Jaganshi, fairy of the dragon's flame, your brother's wife, but you already knew that, sorry it took so long to meet," Bloom reintroduced herself with a bow.

"I'm Yukina of the ice maidens, sister to Hiei, it's nice to meet you all," Yukina said with a bow to all of them.

"So, what was it like to grow up with Hiei as a brother, he never talks about his childhood," Stella asked.

"I never grew up with him, in fact, I only felt small tingles that he was even watching over me at all when I was growing up, I only learned he was my brother two years ago," Yukina admitted.

"Oh, I didn't know that, why didn't you tell her, since you are her brother you should have sensed that she wanted to know," Musa said to Hiei.

"I'm an only child but even I know that if you are a sibling, you need to let the other one know that you are," Tecna stated.

"Yeah, it's not right to hold information that she wanted to know, and I'm sure that she wanted to know," Stella guessed and got her answer when Yukina nodded.

"They do have a point, but it was still your decision to make if you wanted to tell her or not, but I'd still go with whatever you wanted," Bloom stated.

"Why do I feel like I'm being scolded by more wives than I have," Hiei muttered to himself from the window's ledge.

"What was that," Bloom said in a sweet voice but sounded like a nightmare to Hiei.

"Nothing dear," he said quickly, he may be a demon, but even he knows not to anger his wife.

"I'm going to Kazuma's room to have a few drinks with them, would any of you ladies like to join me," Yukina asked the Winx.

"No thank you, we have to have a club meeting anyways, have fun though," Bloom said before they all waved Yukina out. "Now, the day after tomorrow is the semi-finals of the tournament, meaning the fights will be tougher and we will be worried more, so they need our support now more than ever."

"Right, I'll start to make some signs," Stella offered before going right to making said signs for them to use as the others joined her.

"You know that isn't what's going to win," Hiei asked his wife quietly.

"True, but they need to think it'll help, moral support is the only thing they can offer and it might not be enough with what's coming," Bloom said back just as quietly.

"Let us take care of the fighting, we'll win for sure as long as you girls don't get in the way of the fighting," he said.

"You know I can take care of myself, don't you," she rhetorically asked.

"That's not what I meant Bloom, I want you to stay safe, and the best way to do that is for you to keep your guard up at all times and make sure to stay out of these fights," Hiei said with something in his eyes, care.

"When you say it like that, and with those eyes, how is a girl supposed to deny her husband," Bloom stated before taking his hand with hers and just sat there and watched as the girls made signs.

* * *

Next day

Hiei, Bloom, Kurama, and Flora were all watching the match that would determine their opponents in the semi-finals. Or rather, they were watching the match that lasted not even all of two minutes before it was over and the ref called it for team Uraotogi and their opponents for the semi-finals were decided. Then one of their members said something about Team Urameshi being just practice before leaving the arena in victory.

"What an arrogant fool," Hiei commented in his observation.

"Well, well, well, look who it is, guess you guys have the same idea we did about scoping out the competition for the semi-finals," Kuwabara said as he, Yusuke, and Botan came from the hallway.

"Had the same idea, the fight is over," Kurama stated factually.

"Whoa, I can't believe we missed the entire fight because I took an extra couple minutes to brush my teeth," the fool stated.

"It was an impressive sight to behold," the fox stated.

"Though I'm sure your minty fresh breath was well worth the delay," Hiei said before noticing the creature on Yusuke's head, "what is that ridiculous appendage growing out of your head all about?"

"It's just a puberty thing, okay," Yusuke said.

"He looks quite cute," Flora said before snatching the blue creature from off his head and started to play with it, along with Bloom.

"So Kurama, how's your wound treating you," the detective asked to change the subject.

"It will be fine, I'll be fighting again tomorrow," Kurama answered with closed eyes.

"Hn, seems it's not as bad as you made us think," Hiei said.

"Compared to your energy loss, no it seems it's not," the fox shot right back.

They then heard chuckling and snickering and looked over to see Yusuke and Kuwabara whispering about something that he was sure was going to come back to bite him if he asked, but curiosity won out. "What are you fools over there snickering about," he demanded with a small glare.

"Oh nothing, just laughing about what you said about that thing your wife is holding now," Yusuke answered pathetically in an attempt to lie.

"Nice try, but we both know what he said wasn't that funny, now what is it you two," Kurama asked.

"Fine, we were just thinking about how you used to say that you hated ferry girls, now you're married to a fairy, kind of funny," the detective said with a snicker.

"I get it, because ferry and fairy are pronounced the same but spelled differently, it is a little comical though, isn't it Hiei," the fox asked and they all shared a laugh about it.

"How far is it that you've come in your relationship with your girl detective, because I snagged mine," Hiei shot back with a smirk.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Yusuke cryptically said.

"So none, in all of two years you have not gotten anywhere with your girl, pathetic," he commented and had a nice dark chuckle along with everyone else.

Until Yusuke noticed that the masked fighter was staring at him with intense eyes, "hello, what's your problem," he asked before sensing something staring at him, it was Team Toguro. Both Toguro brothers were there, one man that wore a suit of armor and another guy dressed in all black with a mask over his face. The younger Toguro motioned that him and Yusuke were going to fight to the death and Yusuke motioned that the Toguro was going down before the group disappeared into the opposite hallway.

"At least your act is tough," the masked fighter commented.

"Hey, I work hard at it," Yusuke argued.

"No, this can't be, how could I have missed it for so long, they must have shielded their energy from detection, I feel so light headed, we can't compete with these guys Urameshi, what are we going to do," Kuwabara said.

* * *

In a locker room

The team was gathered together in spots you would usually find them in, Hiei and Bloom were sitting in the window, Kurama and Flora was leaning on a wall beside their respective friend. Kuwabara was still realing from the energy from Toguro's team, Yusuke was standing straight with the masked fighter standing straight as well on the other side of the room across the table.

"I'm just saying that it's not that big of a deal Kuwabara, and us bitching about it isn't going to help, probably feel their power now because your senses got better. Come one, Toguro is the guy that made us come to this tournament, none of us thought it would be a joy ride but we can beat him okay," Yusuke stated.

The door to the room opened and the team saw their next opponents, Team Uraotogi and the one with pale purple hair was the first to speak, "tsk, tsk, tsk, don't you all think you're forgetting about somebody."

"No one of real importance," Kurama jibed first.

"Who's that," Kuwabara stupidly asked.

"My guess is the freak show rejects," Yusuke insulted.

"I am Kuro Momotaro," the one chewing gum stated.

"Makintaro," the brown skinned one stated for an introduction.

"Ura Urashima," the one with a fishing pole said.

"Shishiwakamaru," was the pale purple haired one's name.

"and you can just call me Onji," the old man said.

"If you're looking for us to go easy on you, you're wasting your, and more importantly our, precious time," Yusuke stated.

"No, it's the exact opposite, we want a good fight," Kuro Momotaro stated.

"We will be famous, but we'll need more than two minutes of exposure to get that way," Shishiwakamaru said before turning around to head out.

"Arrogant little prick, don't you think," Yusuke stated.

"You could say that again," Kuwabara said.

Shishiwakamaru stopped and turned back with an ugly face on, "we'll get ugly soon enough Urameshi, just you wait," he said before walking out.

"Those guys aren't even worth two minutes, their power is nothing compared to what Toguro was giving off," the fool mentioned.

"We could always wear blindfolds, at least that way it would be more amusing," Yusuke joked.

"Pride is for the week, Yusuke," the masked fighter stated with an intense stare at him.

"Leave me alone, stop looking at me like that you masked freak," Yusuke said before punching the wall beside the door, "if you got something to say, say it."

"It's quite simple, if the leader of Team Toguro is Toguro, then the leader of Team Urameshi should be Yusuke Urameshi, the question I'm proposing is do you have what it takes to beat Toguro all by yourself, Yusuke Urameshi," she said.

Yusuke's temper was starting to skyrocket and that is where Kuwabara decided to intervene, "guys, break it up and try to get along."

"Kuwabara's right, can we please talk this through peacefully," Botan affirmed.

"You think you should lead the team instead of me," Yusuke asked.

"If necessary, follow me," the masked fighter ordered before walking out the room with Yusuke following close behind.

"Yusuke, don't be stupid," Botan yelled after them.

"Let them be, they will have to settle this themselves," Hiei stated with Bloom, Kurama, and Flora nodding as well.

"Yeah, that's what we're afraid might happen, those two are so strong and so mad that they'll settle this all the way to the death and that's no good," Kuwabara theorized.

"It's a shame, but there's nothing we can do," Hiei stated again.

"And if there is anything that could be done, it's hardly our place to interfere with their affairs," Kurama stated.

"How can you possibly say those things, can't you see that they could tear this team apart," Botan exclaimed but nobody made a move, "and none of you even seem bothered enough to care," she exclaimed before running out of the room with the blue creature in hand.

"Are you sure it's right to not interfere," Flora asked the rest of the group.

"Yes, they have something important to do, and all of us with high spiritual awareness can sense it," Kurama answered her.

"Let us head back, we need to prepare for tomorrow," Hiei stated before they all left.

* * *

The next day

It was time for the third round to start and in a new and bigger stadium than the old one, and boy was it a sight to behold to the girls, creepy, but quite the sight. "Sorry to keep you waiting all you demons out there, hello everybody, it's so great to meet you, my name's Juri and I'll be the referee, it's my first time so be friendly, okay," a dark skinned, fish looking creature announced.

"That's right you pain enthusiasts, the semi-finals of the dark tournament are poised to begin, for reasons I can't talk about I've been moved out of the ring and into the measly broadcast booth, not that I'm bitter of course," Koto commented.

"First let's have everyone locate their nearest emergency exit just in case thing get rough," Juri advised. "Now it's with great honor that I get this ceremony started, the four surviving semi-final teams," she announced before a screen was unfolded from a wall. "Team Gorenja, of course Team Toguro, Team Uraotogi, and Team Urameshi, now let's review how those teams will match up in the semi-final round. The pairings run from top to bottom, first up, Team Urameshi vs Team Uraotogi, let's get it started guys." Light was shown on the two entrances, one opened up and revealed only three fighters, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara, while the other door opened and revealed all of their fighters.

"I was not exactly expecting to fight this round three against five," Hiei stated.

"Whatever cause that is delaying them must be important, we'll simply have to work around it," Kurama stated.

"I don't know why you all are stressing, I'll just beat them all myself," Kuwabara stated as he puffed out his chest and marched to the ring with the others in tow.

All the lights came on and lit up the arena as the groups of fighters stared the other group down. "What magnificent images of destruction and misery must be swimming through these competitor's heads as they stare down their enemies in the ring. But as the countdown reaches zero, Yusuke and the masked fighter still have not entered the stadium, leaving their teammates mismatched three to five. Does this mean the controversial demons, Hiei and Kurama, will each have to fight twice to keep their team alive," Koto commented.

"What's that supposed to mean, I said I'll take them all myself," Kuwabara shouted back at her.

"I thought we agreed on a good fight, what has happened to the rest of your team," Shishiwakamaru asked.

"Oh, they just said you guys weren't worth their time," Kuwabara taunted with a smirk.

"It is now time to choose the conditions for your fight," Juri announced.

"It doesn't matter, let's just see who wins," Hiei stated stoically.

"You're a hasty one, aren't you boy, I take it you're fighting first," Kuro Momotaro guessed.

"That's right I am, first, last, and only, I've been under too much stress lately, killing you all should be a good remedy," Hiei stated as the energy in his hand leaked a little.

"We're all anxious to fight Hiei, why don't we let an outside party decide the parings," Shishiwakamaru stated as he pulled dice out from inside his kimono. "Each six-sided dice represents one team, with one team member's name on each side, the sixth is a free space and anyone can fight when it comes up. You must fight as many times as your name appears, as long as you're still alive."

"Doesn't bother me, but one thing, whenever it's the name of someone not around, I will be fighting in their place," Hiei stated with a small smirk.

"Okay, matches will be decided by rolling of dice, multiple turns are aloud, and as always in the semi-finals, five wins will advance," Juri announced.

"Fate makes her choice," Shishiwakamaru said before throwing the dice on the ground where they roled a bit before announcing it to be Hiei vs Makintaro.

"Looks like you got Makintaro Hiei," Kuwabara commented the obvious.

"Hugh, your desperate plan has backfired," Hiei commented himself.

"You talk way to big little man," Makintaro stated.

"Alright Winx, pull out the signs," Stella pronounced proudly as they held up various signs that said different things such as, 'GO TEAM URAMESHI', 'GO KURAMA GO', and 'SLICE THEM OPEN HIEI'. You know, stuff to help encourage the team and improve team moral, and no sign for Kuwabara that didn't go amiss by the fool.

"Alright fans, it's the first match-up of the semi-finals, Hiei vs the big man Makintaro, begin," Juri announced.

Hiei made the first move by simply unsheathing his sword, seemingly at least, "that's very impressive," Kurama commented as he saw what happened.

A few drops of blood dropped from behind Hiei and Makintaro thought the fire demon wet himself, "what's wrong, did we have a little accident in our trousers?"

"Your whole nervous system, it leaves a lot to be desired," Hiei said with a smirk as his opponent was just confused at what happened.

"What are you talking about, my nervous system, come on, just give me your best shot," he exclaimed.

"Fool, I already have," the fire demon stated before holding up Makintaro's severed arm for all to see, and made Stella actually gag on puke that threatened to come up. The demon himself was freaking out about the loss of his arm as the blood sprayed everywhere, "you're lucky I'm generous," Hiei stated before throwing the arm at the ref who squeaked at the arm.

"Hey, where are you going, I'm not done with you," Makintaro said as Hiei continued to walk away, "I said I'm not done with you yet." An ax formed from his severed arm and he ran for Hiei and for a split second seemed to cut him in half, but it was only his cloak.

The actual Hiei was on Makintaro's head with his sword pointing down, "your eyes are rather slow, too bad," he said emotionlessly before plunging the sword through Makintaro's head and killing the brute instantly.

"Hiei, we can't keep replacing your cloak, try and refrain from destroying them if you can," Bloom said in Hiei's head.

"Fine, but tell me why you can't just repair them with your magic again," Hiei asked as he was announced the winner by death.

"Because we haven't gotten that far in our studies yet, it's only the first year and that's for the second half of the second year," she replied back.

"That's idiotic, but fine," he said as he returned to his team as Koto finished saying something about decapitation being her favorite thing, he didn't care. "Go ahead and role Shishi, I have a feeling it's going to be me once more," Hiei declared openly to him.

"Can we get a cleanup crew to remove the body, that isn't part of the referee's job, is it," Juri asked unsure.

"Again, I loved the brutality but next time let's try and drag it out, we mustn't forget our torturing," Koto announced.

"Role, I told you to hurry, I'd like a chance to finish warming up," Hiei goaded.

"Careful, fate may have a sense of humor," Shishiwakamaru stated before tossing the dice again and revealing it to be anyone versus Kuro Momotaro.

"This might be my lucky day after all, if we can choose anybody from our team to fight in this match, then of course it's going to be me," he stated.

"The second match of the semi-finals will be Hiei vs Kuro Momotaro," Juri announced.

Onji and Kuro began to talk and made Hiei get a little impatient about the fight not already underway, "sorry to interrupt you talk but I'd like to fight," he said plainly.

"What are you jokers whispering about over there for so long, if you got something so important to say, why don't you share it with the rest of the group," Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Yes, if you wouldn't mind, we'd like to start the next match soon," Juri commented before she was glared at, "or not, we can wait until whenever you think you might be ready."

"Never have been a lady's man have you Kuro, I should give you some pointers, I was a real performer you know. Hiei puts on a brave front even though he's hurt, sure he's no pushover, but once your body has done its little specialty, we'll be well on our way to fighting Toguro. Just be sure you hold off until your body can memorize his special attacks, that's how you'll defeat him," Onji informed.

"You're wasting your breath, I'm going to shew him up, spit him out, and stick him under a desk," Kuro stated.

"Both fighters please step forward," Juri ordered so she could hurry up and begin the fight, they did and stopped in front of Makintaro's body.

"If I were you little man, I wouldn't let that last victory go to my head, he may have been the biggest on our team but he was also the weakest, let me get him off your sword." Kuro said as he took the sword from Makintaro's head and kicking him away from the two and out of the ring. "I think you'll find I'm a little tougher than Makintaro was," he began before licking the sword, "yes, sweet sword."

"Hate to say, but that's hardly hygienic, you have no idea how many creatures that sword has cut through," Hiei stated bluntly as he heard the girls cringe at that.

"Oh, I'm sure, let me add one more," Kuro began before doing a stupid thing, he brought the sword up and cut his arm and handicapping himself. "Oh yeah, that's it, it hurts so good, oh yeah baby, now we're talking," he encouraged the pain as blood splattered from the wound.

"This is definitely one of the more unconventional moves," Koto commented.

"Sharp, not that it'll do you any good now," Kuro Momotaro said before taking a sphere from his belt and crushing it and releasing the gas inside the sphere. He then proceeded to inhale said gas and his wounds began to heal and skin turned hairy, "beast armor, armor of the ape, what do you think Hiei."

"Those spheres must contain some animalistic properties that transform him once consumed," Kurama surmised.

"Kuro Momotaro's body is now covered in hair, so much for those freshly waxed washboard abs I love so dearly," Koto commented.

"Well I won't be needing this scrap medal anymore and I can honestly say neither will you," Kuro said before throwing the sword at Hiei who knocked it away before catching it with ease.

"We'll see about that, let's put this armor to the test," Hiei said before spinning the sword in his hands a little and launching himself at Kuro at blinding speed only to faint the attack and attack from the side. He struck at Kuro Momotaro as the beast armor clad demon brought up his arm and stopped the attack, and the sword struggled till the point that it couldn't hold up and broke. Hiei retreated a safe distance for a moment as he stared at his grinning and chuckling opponent, he wanted to drive something sharp in that man's skull so bad right now. "I'd rather destroy you with my own hands anyway," he said before jumping up to fight the beast who met him halfway.

Kuro sent a kick that Hiei dodged, as well as an uppercut, then a left cross then right cross, and finally Hiei got hit with a left fist to the gut before getting a double ax handle to the head. That sent him crashing to the ground and making him slide out of the ring and into the wall of the arena as the girls looked on in worry. Hiei stayed there for a few moments, embedded in the wall as Kuro spoke, "you still there, I guess you were probably wondering how I was able to fend off your attack so easily. Simple really, my body does this neat trick where it remembers the pain of my opponent's attack. All I have to do to get immunity is to expose myself to a little dose of my enemy's offence, kind of like a flu shot, once my body knows what attack to look for, it's time for a good ole steaming sphere. Think of it as a catalyst for my beast armor which makes me invincible to my opponent's attack and much more handsome to boot."

"Yeah right, I wouldn't go anywhere near that guy especially with a beast armor on," Stella commented.

"To the matter at hand, how is Hiei supposed to beat somebody invincible, it's not like he can use the dragon of the darkness flame right now," Tecna mentioned.

"Don't count him out yet guys, I'm sure that he can pull this off, if anybody can, it's Hiei and his will to never quit until he's dead," Bloom stated as she watched.

Hiei slowly got back up and was staring at Kuro as he walked calmly back to the ring with clearly focused eyes and stopped at the ring.

"Come on, what're you waiting for, where's your famous dark dragon crap," Kuro goaded the fire demon.

"You want it," Hiei asked with a sharp look in his eyes.

"As soon as my body memorizes your most powerful attacks, i can squash you with the palm of my hand," Kuro stated.

Hiei removed the band that covered his jagan eye and let it open fully, "who am I to turn down a fan's request, just remember, you brought this upon yourself," he said as dark flames engulfed his form.

"Oh no, it looks like Hiei's going to call on the dragon of the darkness flame again, get ready to duck and cover," Koto called out.

"Hey, what's the hold up here, you too weak to do it," Kuro yelled out since it was taking a little longer than he thought it should.

"True pain takes time my friend, just try and keep yourself amused," Hiei stated as energy crackled around his right arm.

"You show them Hiei, his memories not so sharp after all, obviously he's forgotten what that attack did to the last guy," Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Not just him, the flame took its toll on Hiei, to summon the dragon, Hiei must use his own spirit energy as bait to lure it from the pits of spirit world, this technique only works if he can emit a tremendous amount for a prolonged period. Hiei was in Pique condition when he used the darkness flame against Zeru, and even that wasn't enough power for him to control it, beast nearly took the hook along with the bait. Who knows how it will fair now operating with little over half his energy," Kurama informed him about the technique.

"That's half, you're telling me he's making that much energy at half his normal strength," Kuwabara questioned.

"Regardless, he doesn't have enough energy to unleash it, at our friend's current levels, the dragon will devour our friend in his entirety," Kurama informed.

"Hiei, where is it," Kuro yelled out as he was getting impatient.

"Here," Hiei said before making a dash for Kuro and in a surprising turn of events, used a different attack altogether, "fist of the mortal flame," before coating a fist with a dark flame, but not the dragon of the darkness flame. While dark, it was nothing like the dragon's flames, but at the same time was effective enough to deal some serious damage on Kuro Momotaro when it connected with his face.

"Whoa, hold on, that doesn't look like a dragon," Kuwabara noted.

"It's a related flame, but of the human world," Kurama informed.

"Hiei seems to have hit Kuro Momotaro with some sort of terrible attack," Juri noted as Kuro screamed in pain.

"I decided why waist the flame of the underworld on the likes of you when the more mundane one of the humans would suffice," Hiei stated, then noticed something, Kuro was smiling and chuckling.

"I really had you going there for a second, didn't I," Kuro said as he stood up straight and seemed to be fine.

"It's an unlikely reversal, Kuro is back on his feet, that fist of the mortal flame would have sent lesser fighters running for their mommies, but not this brick wall," Koto commented.

"And now I've memorized this pain too," he said before crushing another beast armor sphere and inhaling the gas that it released.

"Kuro is squeezing another one of those steaming spheres, I wonder what he's doing that for, could he possibly get any tougher," Juri asked into the microphone.

Kuro's body began to turn blue with scale looking skin for texture while feathers began to grow from his arms and hair turned a golden color. "Your little fist technique is completely useless against me now that I'm protected by the second beast, the armor of the phoenix," Kuro informed in a new screechy voice.

"This new competitor can't seem to stay in one body for more than a few minutes," Juri announced.

"He's transformed into some kind of giant bird, this sequel to his beast armor is even bigger and badder than the first one," Koto commented.

"What a rip off, this guy's too chicken to stick around and fight in his own skin for a while," Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Nicely put," Kurama said as he watched what was going on.

"Colorful getup you got there, but it doesn't look so tough," Hiei said coolly with his guard fully up.

"Want to see what it can do," Kuro Momotaro asked before taking flight into the air and hovering for a moment before swooping down and hitting Hiei with left fist to his cheek. Kuro flew in front of Hiei and hit him in the face again and sent Hiei flying, only for said fire demon to land on his feet, from there Hiei started to run. "You're trying to confuse me and it's not working, and I can see that you are in fact right here," he said before punching to his left with his right fist.

Only for Hiei to duck at high speeds and was under his fist in Kuro's open area, "left yourself open, how about double fists of the mortal flame," Hiei said. What followed was a huge succession of fists from both of his fists at blinding speeds before ending the barrage with a huge right to Kuro's gut leaving the beast armor demon with burn marks on his torso.

He seemed to be in pain for a few moments before he grinned and moved to strike at Hiei in a moment and forcing him to dodge as Kuro appeared with a fist embedded into the concrete ring. As Hiei was dodging the punch that would've flattened him, Kuro moved behind Hiei and when Hiei turned to block or dodge, was kicked in the face. As he was flying back from the kick, Kuro moved in and punched Hiei in the gut, then a knee to the back, then a kick to the stomach, and then finally a punch to his face that sent him to the ground. He landed with a huge thud and slid a little on his face with his arms outstretched to the side before finally stopping as Kuro came down from the air.

"You convinced yet, there's nothing you can do to beat me, you might as well stay on the ground and think of a nice way to beg," Kuro recommended.

Hiei struggled to get up, "never, you'll have to rip my limbs off to keep me down," he stated.

"You shouldn't give him anymore suggestions Hiei," Kurama advised.

"Yeah, that's a good point," Kuwabara put his two cents in.

"It appears Hiei is simply unable to compete with the strength and power of the new and approved Kuro, amputation seems to be guaranteed," Koto commented.

"I'm really starting to not like that woman, but Hiei can do this, I know he can," Bloom said with certainty, but you could tell that she was worried.

"Too bad you can't call up that little dragon, I'd like to show the world I could beat you even with a level playing field, but then again it might just be fun to go all the way. Prepare yourself for the next Kuro Momotaro, now I'll take great pleasure in killing you," Kuro said as he took a beast armor sphere from his belt and crushed it and inhaled the gas like the others.

"First, he was an ape, then a phoenix, what will Kuro transform into now, could it possibly a purple hippopotamus," Koto guessed.

Kuro's feathers and scales receded, and instead brown fur took its place, his ears elongated, as did his fingernails, his hair turned white and he formed a snout with elongated teeth. "Now I'm protected by the third beast armor, the armor of the wolf, I'm a hell of a lot stronger than before and as you can see. I have a few sharp new toys on my hand that I'd love to share with you if you're in the mood to play," Kuro said proudly. He charged at Hiei and attempted to strike at the fire demon with his claws, but Hiei was able to dodge as Kuro tore through some of the ring's concrete. When Hiei turned around, Kuro sliced the front of his sky-blue shirt with four claw marks that made him stumble back. "Hugh, I promise I won't miss your flesh again, just needed a moment to get use to this body," Kuro said before taking a step forward.

Hiei took a step back when he did, "I've never known Hiei to back away from a challenger," Kurama said.

"Well, he does have a lot of teeth," Kuwabara joked nervously.

Hiei backed up another step and his foot touched the hilt of his broken sword, he looked down and looked at it for a moment before shrugging, "what the hell."

"Does that mean the great Hiei is ready to quit," Kuro asked.

Hiei stomped on the hilt of the sword and as it flipped up, he caught it before saying, "no you incompetent, but I will give you one last chance too."

"That's very sporting of you, I think I'll pass however, your memory isn't like mine, so I'll give you a hint, if your sword didn't work on my first beast armor it sure won't work on the third," Kuro informed.

"I know, I hate to use this attack, I find it totally devoid of any taste or artistry," Hiei informed.

"Well that's hard to believe, there's actually a move too barbaric for Hiei," Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Then it's probably going to be very messy," Kurama guessed.

"Hugh, don't hold back on me because something's offensive, I'm no snob, i was planning on a vulgar move myself," Kuro said before jumping up and sinking his teeth into Hiei making blood splatter everywhere.

"He's not dead, he's not dead, he's not dead," Bloom chanted and making all of the Winx look at her before they heard a sound.

The sound came from the ring and when the girls all looked, they saw that the blood stopped before a blade made of black fire shot through Kuro Momotaro's gut. "Sword of the darkness flame," Hiei said before Kuro's body turned to pieces and burst into flames that turned it to ash.

"Now I understand, Hiei did summon the darkness flame from the pits of spirit world, only this time, he didn't use his arm, he transferred his energy into his sword to lure the darkness flame. This contained it apart from his body, it wasn't as strong, but Hiei's weapon became powerful enough to pierce the beast armor, Kuro was dead before his teeth sank in, ingenious," Kurama explained.

"I don't know about all this genius business, it's not all that different from what I do with my spirit sword and nobody calls that genius," Kuwabara said and then widened his eyes as if realizing something. "Hey, wait a second, were you saying back there that my spirit sword didn't have any taste or artistry."

"Huh, of course I did," Hiei said as he through the sword handle away and ignored the fool's yelling about his insult, instead he sent a message to Bloom. 'Don't worry, told you I'd win, now all that's left is to take care of the other losers, and tell the other girls to stop crying, I'm not dead.'

"You know how emotional they get when they think one of their boyfriends gets hurt, no different from now with me as your wife, I'll let them cry it out, who knows, maybe they'll make another scene," Bloom said with a smirk.

'I could teach you how to summon a sword with your dragon's flame, never know when it'll come in handy,' Hiei said.

"Fine, I'll make them stop, but you also have to give me the secret to summon my own dragon's flame in dragon form," she reasoned as she saw him walk back to his team after his victory had been called.

"Deal," he said as his and the other team decided to join him in the ring instead of Shishiwakamaru just rolling the dice. "Come on, roll the dice again, I have an urge for three in a row," he said loud enough for the other team to hear.

Shishiwakamaru threw the dice and as they landed, everyone was thinking the same thing, except for Kuwabara who was hoping the opposite, that the dice would land on them.

"After rolling the dice, both fighters are in place for the third match of the semi-finals, now fighting for Team Urameshi, Kurama, and for Team Uraotogi, Ura Urashima, you may begin," Juri announced.

Kurama and Ura each took out a whip like weapon, "it looks like this match will be a duel of flashing weapons with Ura Urashima whirling his fishing line and Kurama wielding his trademark rose whip, this one's going to be all about skill," Koto commented. Both fighters began their movements, Ura using his fishing line and Kurama with his rose whip, both slashed and hacked at the other, only to be blocked by the other as well. "Wow, this is an incredible display of equally matched talents, and while there is no blood to speak of yet, those sparks keep me hopeful."

The two fighters continued to move about and clash in their whips as everyone watched the impressive amount of control over each weapon. "Kurama needs to stop fooling around and start fighting for real," Hiei commented.

"What, he's whip swinging like a maniac," Kuwabara noted.

"Have you learned anything, It's Kurama's obnoxious habit, he never creates his own strategy until he fully understands his opponent's," Hiei informed. Both fighters continued to slash away at each other as everyone looked on, then Hiei saw a single eye-blink of hesitation from them before continuing to fight. Ura seemed to slip at one point before Kurama made a move to knock the fighter out, only for said boy to disappear and tangle Kurama in his fishing wire before pulling and cutting the fox deeply.

"Hahahaha, I studied your fighting and found that your only weakness is your kindness, in that regard, I suggest you change the way you live your life, but it's too late now. How did you put up with this goody-to-shoes crap, I had to choke back some serious chunks while pretending to be an upstanding citizen, but does it feel good to be bad again," Ura said. "You're going to die just like grandma," he said again before he started to chase Kurama while swinging his fishing line. Kurama tried to run to the edge of the stage, but found his path blocked by string, "come on Kurama, give me some credit here, you didn't really think I was trying to hit you with those attacks did you, hook, line, and sinker, and you're the stupid fish."

"This was not part of my job description, isn't there anybody who can break me out of this thing, I'm not supposed to be in here," Juri commented herself quite fearfully.

"And before you get any ideas, know that my force field won't be shredded nearly as easily as that enchantress Ruka's, in fact it's impossible to break out from the inside. So, get comfortable, and let me introduce you to the Idunn Box," Ura said as he brought out a red box with gold markings on it. "Anybody other than the possessor who breaths it's air will quickly return to their younger age, back to those awkward adolescent years, the terrible two's, or even infancy. Once infected, you'll be so tiny and inexperienced, it'll be like taking candy from a, oh well, there's no point in cliché expressions, you'll see soon enough what I mean."

Ura opened the box and out came a white smoky mist that instantly enveloped the ring, and making Kurama hold his breath for as long as he could.

"You can't hold your breath forever," Ura said the obvious as the smoke stopped at the edge of the ring and didn't leave.

"Why isn't that stuff coming any closer, is it scared," Kuwabara asked.

"Maybe you don't understand the concept of force field," Hiei said as he noticed the girls all face palmed at the fool's stupidity, even Stella.

"Now I get why he's called the fool by everyone," Tecna commented.

"Wait to go Ura, I totally did it, I can feel I can feel his spirit energy getting weaker," Ura said from inside the barrier. "Maybe I went a little too far this time, hold on, his spirit energy completely vanished, that's not supposed to happen." Soon, a massive surge of spirit energy shot forth and soon a white fox-like shape came from the smoke before a humanoid form took its place. "Where in the world did this power surge come from, could have sworn that I felt his power weakening as he regressed all the way back," he obviously couldn't see the humanoid figure.

"I think, perhaps, I've regressed further than you intended, and just as I have come to accept my human captivity," a deep voice stated, "Yoko has returned, they cry."

Ura backed away in fear while exclaiming, "did you say Yoko, Yoko the spirit fox, Yoko the legendary bandit Yoko, what did you do with Kurama, I liked him a lot better."

"Oh, he's here, he's me, only now you've brought me out in full, thank you for that," Yoko Kurama stated and confirming the girl's and Hiei's suspicions.

"Yes, the ring is shrouded in fog, and with Jura MIA, who knows what fantastic action is happening within those cloudy walls," Koto commented.

"This has to be a nightmare," Ura said to himself.

"There is no room for fantasies or denial, you little vermin, be assured, I am alive," Yoko said to Ura as he appeared behind him.

"But the stories all say you're dead, you were caught, you were killed," Ura exclaimed in fear.

"Yes, I'm so flattered you've heard of me, but as you see, the stories were incorrect," Yoko said.

"It's like a thunderstorm in there, where's all that weird energy I feel coming from," Kuwabara asked.

"It's all Kurama, down to the last drop," Hiei stated with a vicious smirk on his face.

"But it's different somehow and a heck of a lot more powerful," the fool noted.

"Seems that fool he was fighting turned him back into his demon form before he was tainted by you humans, fifteen years ago, the spirit fox, Yoko Kurama, was thought to have been killed while escaping from a batched burglary. In desperation he hid himself in your world, using a human body to slowly recover his energy, he thought no one would find him, I did, and now we'll see what the purist form of Kurama can do," Hiei informed.

"Hiei, could you tell Kurama to knock it off or something, Flora is drooling all over the place up here," Bloom asked inside of his head.

"I can't not until the effects wear off, so you'll need to summon a bucket," Hiei replied as he watched or listened to what he could.

"Let's see, how best shall I deal with my pray," Yoko taunted.

"I'm barely making out two silhouettes in the center of the ring, which I can only assume is the combatants, but the voice I've just picked up with my ears doesn't sound like either of them. What in the world is going on, has another fighter entered the ring now, and what about Juri, she's still not reporting. Has she been a casualty in this shrouded fight, will I be forced to replace her in the ring," Koto commented.

"Wait I'm here, is it snack time yet mama," a young sounding Juri asked.

"Okay people, this is ridiculous, in addition to a new fighter, there seems to be a small child in the ring too," she commented again.

Yoko took a seed from behind his head and put spirit energy into it, it glowed for a moment before it grew and a red plant-like thing with red tentacles was around his arm. "Each branch of this tree has a mouth, and each mouth has saliva that will melt your bones in under a minute, though the pain will make each second seem like it's an eternity to you. I never take anything in battle personally you realize, it's only that I do not stand for trespassers, and that my death tree enjoys a good meal," Yoko informed.

Ura was now scare to death, "please help me, please help me, please help me, I'll do anything you ask me to, I'll fight for your team, don't melt me."

"Tell me the secret of the Idunn Box," Yoko ordered.

"Well, uh, I don't know about that," he said before the branches began to encroach upon him, "I just took what they gave me, ask Shishi, he's the only one who knows."

"I can smell when you're lying, it makes my tree want to eat you more," the fox said intimidatingly.

"Okay, I'll tell you everything, it's Onji, he and Shishiwakamaru, they came to us and said they'd give us anything if we fought, I'm not even Ura Urashima. We were all together, Makintaro, Kuro and me, they came to us and gave us special items and said we could all be high class like them, and that's not all, I can tell you who really gave us all the items." That was as far as Ura got before a sword entered the barrier and impaled him through the side of the neck.

"Just a lower-class beast, always the easiest of pawns," Yoko stated as the smoke began to clear up and revealed Yoko to the world.

"Hold up people, I've just seen my personal fantasy, sexy ears, a dreamy tail, who is this love god, Shishiwakamaru's sword is there too, stabbed in a beast. None of the original combatants are even in the ring, how in the world do we call this thing," Koto questioned.

"What did she just say, if she thinks she can make a move on my Kurama, she has another thing coming," Flora growled as her own killer intent was radiating off her.

"Kurama really is a fox thing, gee, and to think I let him near my kitten," Kuwabara mentioned.

Before much else could even be said, Yoko Kurama turned from the white-haired demon that had Koto staring at him, to the red haired Kurama that had Koto pouting and Flora staring at him.

"I can't explain it, my silver haired hunk has transformed into a, sadly, tailless Kurama, my whole weekend is shot," Koto commented and earned a glare from Flora that made her shiver a little.

"Kurama is the winner," Juri announced and earned another win for Team Urameshi.

"It's official and on the board, Team Urameshi keeps the lead over Team Uraotogi in the semi-final round three to zero," Koto commented.

What came next were really stupid to the girls, Kuwabara winning at rock paper scissors, then the fool losing to Shishiwakamaru going through something called the cape of no return. Then came the match between Shishiwakamaru and the masked fighter when she appeared, but then it was revealed the masked fighter to be the psychic, Genkai. Then the match got really interesting, especially when Shishi's banshee shriek attacked the audience, and forced Hiei to run up and stop it from hitting the girls with his own spirit energy. Then Shishi brought up a cage to fight Genkai, only for him to have his own energy used against him for Genkai's win.

Then Onji stepping in and taking on Kuwabara who appeared to fight the match, only to disappear again in a similar way as before. Then Genkai stepped up to fight with Onji, then she revealed he wasn't an old man to everyone and forced him to shed his disguise. He revealed himself to be someone wearing clown makeup named Suzuka, I'm sorry, the beautiful Suzuak. Then he lost pathetically to Genkai who used nothing but physical strength to take him down, and so the final match of the semi-finals went to Team Urameshi.

"That wasn't a very good win when you think about it, they opposing team only won twice, both against Kuwabara," Tecna pointed out.

"True, but that last fight against Suzuka was interesting, did you hear someone say featherweight when his shirt was ripped off," Musa asked.

"I think that was just you thanks to your advanced ears, I liked the look on Kuwabara's face when he learned that he was beat by not an old guy but a clown," Stella commented.

"Let's go join the others, we should celebrate getting this far," Bloom suggested before they all got up and went to where the others are walking down the hall in time to hear Botan say something about winning.

"I got a kick out of watching you fight Kazuma," Yukina said from his side.

"Why thank you Yukina, it's nice to see that someone appreciates my strategy, you see there was nobody worth wasting my energy on so I had the bad guys reveal their weaknesses so Genkai could knock them down," Kuwabara lied.

"More like you made a mess and Genkai had to clean up after you like someone always does" Shizuru corrected.

"Hey that stung, you take that back sis," he exclaimed.

"Just the truth bro," she replied back.

"Well no one cares," Kuwabara guessed.

"Actually, I'd like to hear it," Hiei spoke up.

"I would like to as well," Bloom said coming up from behind Hiei and hugging him.

"Stay out of this you two," Kuwabara ordered.

"Now children, behave," Botan chided nervously.

"I'm leaving," Genkai stated before walking off.

"It took all of us working as a team to make it this far," Kurama stated as Flora stood next to him.

"Not him," Hiei jibed.

"I fought just as many fights as you did," Kuwabara pointed out.

"And lost them both," he replied before taking Bloom by the hand and deciding to go for a walk with alone with her.

* * *

Cliff edge

Hiei and Bloom were by a cliff's edge with a fire ignited before them, it wasn't a campfire either, it was a pretty good-sized fire at the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean. "I'm not sure how I'm going to teach you how to pull a dragon from your own dragon's fire Bloom, but at least for the tournament, I know that you can help me with something else," Hiei said.

"What would that be, I know that thanks to that Ruka woman that your arm is healed to the point where our two dragons aren't at constant war with each other when I heal you. What then could you need my help with, our dragon's fires are two different entities, mine is for life and yours's for death," Bloom inquired.

"We're going to combine them, your dragon's fire is closer to a deity in fairy society, while mine is on par with your dragon, yours was meant to bring life and not destruction like mine is. So, we combine your dragon, fairy magic, and my fires of the mortal flame to create a binding to contain the dragon within my arm, this should build my body to the point of withstanding the dragon. Not only that, but make the dragon more powerful for the final round of the tournament," Hiei explained.

"That's a wonderful idea, let's do it, it's not like we have much choice do we," Bloom said as Hiei ignited his hand with black fire and she ignited hers with her dragon's flame. They plunged their hands into the fire and watched as both fires mixed and shot forth from the bonfire and into the sky a little way before spreading out into four snakelike forms. They continued to merge their flames until it was almost perfected within a few hours, and just as it was close to perfection, a power surge came through the air.

"What was that," Bloom asked as she was knocked off balance by it and therefore canceled the flame findings.

"That felt like Toguro's energy, and I can sense a smaller energy, that of Genkai, they're fighting each other," Hiei stated.

"What will happen," she asked him, and then she saw the deep frown on his face, and she knew what that meant, "I see."

"Yes, Genkai will die, leaving us to face off on a four on four match-up, we'll have to get a substitute to fill the gap, as will Team Toguro," he surmised.

"I guess I could be the fifth member, Its not like I'll actually have to fight with the rest of you fighting," Bloom guessed.

"No, you can't be our fifth member, even if it'll be just a place holder in the end, you will only be a spectator. I won't allow you to participate, a stray energy blast can always be blocked, but I will not allow you to be in harm's way like that," Hiei declared.

"If I'm asked to be the fifth member, if as a place holder, I will be if I so choose," Bloom retorted.

"No, you will not, even if I have to knock you out and have the other girls take you back to Alfea before the fight, I will not hesitate to do so, I will not have you killed or risk it," he exclaimed with a glare and look in his eyes that not many see, care.

"Fine, I won't be the fifth member, but please don't die, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you," she said as they embraced each other.

Then the energy from Gankai completely disappeared, "Genkai has been finished," Hiei said when he noticed the change.

"I didn't really know her, but we could have learned a lot from her I bet, too bad we won't ever get to now," Bloom mentioned.

"Yes, it is a little saddening, but I have a feeling that she knew this was going to happen, but we need to practice, let's continue," he said and she nodded.


	7. The Final Round

Demons and Fairies

Chapter 7

The Final Round

Hiei and Bloom were walking through the forest in order to get to where Genkai died so they can see the damage that it caused in order to gage that strength that it took to kill her. When they got to the spot they didn't expect what they saw, a huge crater formed form a single fist slammed into the ground if the print at its center was anything to go by.

"To think that Toguro actually caused destruction like this on his fight with Genkai, what do you think he'll do if he ever went all out," Bloom asked her husband for an answer.

Hiei said nothing as he instead went to a different spot and started to charge his right hand with demon energy before jumping up and slamming his fist in the ground. This caused a huge crater as everything was blown back from the force of the impact, but Bloom stood her ground to see what the outcome would be. When she next opened her eyes, she saw a crater right beside of the crater Toguro made, but this was only about three fourths of the size of Toguro's crater.

(A/N: If you watched the anime and read the manga then you know that the crater Hiei made was actually about a fourth of the crater Toguro made. I made it bigger to account for the added addition of Blooms dragon's flame in addition to his own power that made him even stronger in this fanfiction.)

"Damn, if this is the damage I can do with the power boost then is still need more training to reach Toguro, come on, let's finish what we started," Hiei ordered.

"Did you just order me around," Bloom asked with a glare directed at her husband that made his skin crawl, yes, he was afraid of his wife, what man wouldn't be afraid of his wife.

He answered without letting his face or body language showing any of the natural fear that he felt, "of course not, it was just a suggestion, but if you don't want to we could go out for dinner or something."

"That sounds much more delightful, but getting you more power is our first priority so instead we'll be training that dragon of yours instead," she said with grin that said, 'got you.'

"Next time, wait until it gets a better mood before pulling a joke like that, or no dragon or sword form learning for you," Hiei threatened.

"Fine, but come on, I was just trying to lighten the mood, something needed to be done because you were going to hurt yourself before you even stepped a foot inside the ring," Bloom commented.

"Fine, after the training we can relax with a nice and hot bath, how does that sound for a nice treat," he asked with a rare smile, not an evil smirk, a smile that made him seem a little less like a brutal killer, you know, if you didn't know him.

"That sounds great, now let's train," she stated, they did train, well till it was dark out, and just as the sun was about to set completely, they headed back to the hotel. They took a bath together, and yes, it was just a bath, nothing more, and Bloom fell asleep while Hiei went out to train some more.

* * *

The next day

Team Urameshi had just walked out of the hotel when the doors opened, "It's time to kick some ass," Yusuke sounded off followed my Kuwabara echoing with a 'right' while Kurama grunted and Hiei gave off an evil smirk. When they got there, they were waiting by the entrance to the ring, all standing there and not talking until Kurama spoke up.

"One question, have you arranged for a substitute for Genkai since she won't be joining us today," he asked.

"I did but the little twerp should have been here by now," Yusuke answered with one eye open from where he had both closed before the question.

"Well, I don't see why the old bat doesn't have to be here like the rest of us," Kuwabara dumbly commented.

"She's sick, I told you that," he answered sounding depressed as he hung his head down with his eyes again closed.

"Aha, it just so happens that I know a secret remedy that can cure all kinds of sickness, let me think, first you hang upside down for a while, then you eat five large lemons, drink two-day old tea with pepper in it, and then wrap your body in seaweed," the fool listed off.

"So, tell me, what's it like living in a constant haze of stupidity," Hiei asked as they waited and he found nothing better to do but tease the fool for his stupidity.

"I've had enough of your lip half pint," Kuwabara exclaimed before a great shaking was heard and signaling the start of the final round.

"Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, so let's begin, on my left, Team Urameshi," Juri announced as she pointed to the now opening doors. For a moment our team just stood there, but soon filed in one after the other until they were all at ringside and waiting for the other team.

"I'd really like to show every one of these jerk faces a thing or two about minding their manners, besides all their shouting is giving me a headache," Kuwabara commented.

"Ahem, your attention please, please put your hands together for everyone's favorite, Team Toguro," Juri announced again as the other doors slid open and it appeared as if nobody was there. Then footsteps could be heard coming closer to the light, soon came in said team looking as frightening and as creepy as everyone imagined them to be. All the demons cheered and drowned out Kuwabara's shout of protest as the girls all watched how the final round was shaping up to be.

"I can feel their power from here, do you think it's actually safe to be around here for this, it's not going to be a walk in the park for them," Stella commented.

"They'll be fine, it'll be tough, probably touch and go for a while between somebody and somebody, but in the end, we'll win for sure," Musa assured them, though, there was nervousness in her own voice.

"The odds aren't really looking to be in our favor, but my calculations have been wrong before when it comes to what Hiei once referred to as, 'the spirit of a warrior,' so who knows," Tecna stated.

"I think something's happening," Flora guessed as she saw that the intense staring contest the teams were having was over as demons yelled about not being the correct amount on either team.

"Ahem, everyone please calm down and I'll get to the bottom of this," Juri stated before bringing out a rule book with her tail. "Let's see, uh, according to the tournament rule book, each of the ten players must participate on a one-on-one match assuming five matches are necessary. The first team to win three matches will be the champions, sorry about that, since this is the final battle and neither side has used their substitution, you must have five or your team will forfeit."

Kuwabara nudged Yusuke and said, "hey, you did say you got somebody for Genkai but I just wanted you to know that imaginary friends don't count."

"Right, I think it'd be best if you didn't talk for the rest of the tournament," Yusuke suggested while barely looking at the fool.

"Great, so we're already experiencing difficulty, in case anybody upstairs is curious, I do have the entire tournament rule book memorized," Koto commented.

"Both teams need to find another player soon, because if you don't I'll be forced to disqualify you and forfeit this match and that's not good," Juri insisted.

Toguro smirked before speaking, "that's all you had to say, our reserve team member is always ready to join us when the need is required," the doors behind them began to open and it was now shown to be Sakyo.

"Well to be honest, I have no intention of participating in this match, granted my presence allows Toguro to continue, but all that means for me is a much better view. I'll stake my life on Yusuke's team being defeated before my turn arrives, now let's begin," Sakyo stated blandly and actually seemed a little bored.

"Now that's what I call, put your mouth where your money is," Koto commented with clear excitement.

"Toguro is prepared, now present your fighter or the finals are over," Juri threatened from within the ring and showing clear signs of agitation.

"What now mister team captain, we've got like two seconds for this guy to show up," Kuwabara stated to Yusuke.

For a few moments everything was silent, and then Juri started, "since Team Urameshi has failed miserably to produce a fifth member, Team Toguro will be named the winners by default."

"Hold it missy, patience is a virtue," the voice of Koenma came through the speakers before music started to play and the door to their team opened and smoke filled the entrance.

"Wow Urameshi, this fighter you got even shoots out some kind of magical smoke," the fool commented.

"Um, not exactly, I just thought dry ice would be a nice touch," Koenma stated as he came into view in his full teen form.

"It's a giant Koenma," Kuwabara exclaimed as he pointed at Koenma, all the girls face-palmed at how stupid he is.

"So, what kept you, a diaper change," Yusuke commented as Koenma walked closer to the team and in full view of all demons.

"Look Yusuke, you can cool it with the wise cracks, I don't have to be here you know, I'm doing this as a favor, highly important people like myself shouldn't risk their lives, but Genkai was a friend and Toguro is a jerk," Koenma stated.

"I can't believe that Yusuke actually let a toddler in disguise be the team's alternate," Tecna commented.

"I can't believe that both owners of the teams are the alternates, makes you wonder what would happen if it came down to the two of them in a fight," Musa wondered out loud.

"Are you sure this is a smart idea, we don't even know if he can fight," Kuwabara exclaimed at the toddler.

"Believe it or not, fighting isn't up there on my list of priorities, so I've implemented an escape route, the Koenmatron five thousand, what do you think," Koenma informed as he showed off a jet-pack.

Kuwabara was floored while Hiei gained a sweat drop, "I think we're in deep trouble, that's what," the fool commented once he was off the floor.

"Wait a second, you can't just switch, the rules state that a new player may only be brought in if the original fight is dead," Juri informed them.

"Their team will never get to the fifth match so it won't be necessary for junior to fight, we all know he's here to take up space," Karasu commented.

"Anytime mask boy," Koenma said right back at the opposing fighter as if he actually wanted to fight.

"What's wrong with you," Kuwabara asked since Koenma was switching between not wanting to fight to wanting to fight.

"Alright, there's finally a full roster so get ready to feast your eyes on the dark tournament's bloodiest massacre yet, ladies and gentlemen, it's taken us seven long days to get here, welcome to the finals," Koto commented from within the stands before the buzzer to start sounded off.

Karasu was the first one to enter the ring with his hands in his pockets before looking at them and putting his finger to his head and pulled back a little in a bang motion.

"Awe, look at him trying to scare us with his dumb finger, man, I'm going to beat him until his mother doesn't recognize him," Kuwabara exclaimed.

"No," Kurama voiced before walking up to beside of the fool, "I will handle it," he stated again before making his way to inside the round ring.

"It has been decided, we will begin the final with a match between Team Toguro's Karasu, and from Team Urameshi's side, Kurama," Juri announced the opening battle.

"Folks, I guess you could say this tournament has been one heck of a roller-coaster, and finally, finally, we can get to the most awesome loopy loop part of the ride," Koto commented as the demons cheered for bloodshed. "From the sound of things, it seems like everyone in the stadium is a fan of the tall, dark, and gruesome Karasu," she commented again before she was almost floored by Keiko's voice.

"What did you just say, you couldn't pay me to root for that vampire wannabe weirdo," she said as she held Pue with Shizuru and Yukina to her left and Botan to her right. They were in front of the Winx with the order from left to right being Bloom, Flora, Stella, Musa, and finally Tecna as they looked on at Keiko.

"I don't know, he does have some beautiful hair," Shizuru commented just as a statement with no real meaning.

"Don't forget your stretches Koenma sir," an ogre sitting next to the girls yelled out with a spiked club in his hands, "this was supposed to be Koenma's, guess I'll just use it to scare people. The ogre and the girls chose that moment to start chanting Kurama repeatedly instead of being quiet in their cheering and not making a scene.

"Dammit, if they start a riot in the stands, I'm not going to be the one that saves them," Yusuke commented as Kuwabara ran up to Kurama to ask him something.

"Hey Kurama, wait, you think you'll use that medicine stuff that Suzuka gave you," Kuwabara asked the fox with the fox not turning around.

"Actually, I took some about two minutes ago, I've run a few experiments and found it takes a considerable amount of time for it to absorb into my body and change me," Kurama informed the fool.

"I don't know if you should take that stuff multiple times buddy, it could be bad," the fool guessed almost smartly for a change, almost.

"There's no way I would have shown up here without testing it first," the fox replied before jumping into the ring to begin his fight.

"So, what's it do when you take it," Kuwabara stupidly asked the obvious question, if the compound reverted him back before, it was obviously going to revert him back again.

"Suzuka was right in assuming it would transform me, however there is a time limit, I can only stay in that form for fifteen minutes, I'm not worried though, fifteen minutes is more than enough." Kurama stated and was about to head deeper into the ring when he felt a tug on his pants, looking down he saw Hiei there motioning him to bend down, Kurama complied and Hiei whispered something into his ear.

"Bloom gave me a message, well, Bloom and then Flora, Bloom asked if you could tone down the whole foxy thing, last time they couldn't summon enough buckets to keep up with Flora's drooling over you. Flora asked that you keep the fox out a little longer this time, and now that the messages have been delivered, do what you want," he said.

"Flora likes my fox form, well at least I know that one battle has been won today," Kurama stated to himself turning back and walking deeper into the ring for his fight to begin.

"If I can have everyone's attention I'll explain the rules of the match," Juri started before everyone started ranting about wanting bloodshed instead of talking, "fine, both players take their opening pose, and begin."

Kurama got into a ready position while Karasu just began to speak, "you are either extremely brave, or extremely foolish, it is rare for anyone who has seen my capabilities to go through with fighting me. I'm curious to why you would subject yourself to this, could it be something personal," he asked to try and get into the fox's mind.

"Don't flatter yourself Karasu, I'm here to defeat you, and by the way, I advise you not to underestimate me," Kurama advised. Both fighters lifted their hands up, Karasu's hand glowed a green energy while Kurama generated some rose petals and making them float around him.

"Wow, Kurama's surrounded with a huge whirlwind of rose petals, Karasu must stink," Koto commented from the audience.

Kurama brought up his right arm with his right hand as if being parallel with a wall and pointed his left arm down and out a little with his left arm parallel with the floor. "Petals and thorns," Kurama stated as the petals swarmed around him and Karasu just decided to walk straight into the rose petals.

"Karasu obviously doesn't feel concerned as he walks directly into the massive cloud of rose petals," Koto commented again and the girls just wished somebody would shut her up.

A rose petal flew by Karasu's face and a cut formed on his right cheek just below his eye, "it's incredible, each pedal is as sharp as a razor blade, how utterly charming," he commented as he continued his walk. "I must say Kurama, they are absolutely beautiful, however they are also weak and lacking in substance, traits they must have inherited from you." With a few more steps Karasu acted by sending his hands out and a moment later, Kurama's rose petals all started to blow up, one after the other.

"What the heck, those things just spontaneously combusted," Kuwabara noted the obvious out loud again.

"Be careful Kurama," Yusuke yelled out as if he actually needed to tell the smartest person on the team to be careful with the guy.

"Well, well, well, maybe it was I who was underestimated by you, my hands are not the sole source of my power, they are merely vessels, poor Kurama, it seems you've entirely misunderstood," Karasu stated. "You aren't able to see my power so you feel secure, but it's everywhere, even in the air you breath, you can't escape it, it's all around you, inside of you, why don't you make things easier and submit?" Karasu jumped up in the air in a burst of speed before disappearing again and coming into view of Kurama's left and making a play to grab him, or just plain out touch him. Kurama dodged by stepping back and letting the hand pass through where he used to be, then another swipe that was dodged and then another.

"What an attack, it's just the way I like it, confidence with a hint of malice," Koto commented as more swipes from Karasu forced Kurama to go on the defensive.

Kurama jumped back to get some distance before Karasu ran after him, the fox jumped in the air before calling out, "rose whip," and summoned his infamous rose whip to use. He used it to try and attack Karasu before said man stretched out his hand and destroyed the whip with the same method as before as Kurama got back to the ground.

"You know you can't stop me but you continue to try all the same, that's what's so appealing about you, it's a shame that circumstances couldn't have been different for us," Karasu stated before sprinting towards him and attacked while he talked. "But it doesn't really matter, even the sweetest deal always turns sour, I'm just speeding the process, besides, I've found no greater rush than taking the life of something you care for. The intimacy between murderer and victim share is unparalleled, witnessing their spirit separating itself from their body," at the end of it all, Karasu jumped up before coming down on Kurama, only to hit his hand on the pavement. Kurama dodged by jumping back, but got a big surprise when part of his arm got a small explosion for his troubles, this caused him to bend over a little in pain. "Like I said, it isn't necessary for me to touch you, it's just one of the perks," Karasu stated with a glint of blood-lust in his eyes.

"Darn it, what's the deal, why doesn't he change, if that clown gave him bad juice, I'll make him regret the day he was born," Kuwabara stated.

Karasu was about to make another part explode when Kurama made a run for it, Karasu flew over to in front of him and made another small explosion, this time on Kurama's right thigh, to his credit though, he only stumbled a bit. "Perhaps I should explain how my power works, it's similar to yours as in we both manipulate things with our energy, but with one distinct difference, you can only control things that already exist, like your plants. I manifest my thoughts into tangible things, for example, the object I'm holding in my hand, although you can't see it, it is still very real and very deadly. Honestly, I don't think words can do it justice, it's just one of those things you have to feel for yourself, after all, like they say, actions speak louder than words. Make sure you pay very close attention Kurama, I wouldn't want you to miss a single minute," Karasu stated as he began to charge up some energy in his right hand. The energy in his hand formed into a spooky looking rectangle resembling to a bomb of some sort before it was thrown straight at Kurama where it exploded in a haze of fire and smoke.

This caused everyone to shield their eyes from looking at the explosion, everyone except for Flora who was looking on in horror at watching Kurama seemingly die in front of her.

"What a great explosion, Karasu has just pelted Kurama with several sticks of dynamite, but tragically I'm not able to see the damage," Koto announced.

"I wish she'd shut up, we don't need her comments right now," Stella stated while looking at Flora to see if she's okay, but she just stood there with wide and unblinking eyes.

Karasu was watching the smoke when he felt blood drip from him, then he noticed a rose was actually stuck in it, he brought up the hand to take the rose out while saying, "very amusing."

Inside the smoke cloud, a white energy was being released from within it, the energy seemed to engulf the entire ring and reminded them all of the semi-finals and what happened to Kurama then. The energy soon turned into lightning spurts all around the arena, "I've seen all this before, this battle is in for a heart stopping face lift," Koto commented. Soon, in the smoke, the white haired Youko Kurama came into view and with no movement at all, the smoke vanished from sight and all that was left there was Youko himself. "Well it's no surprise I was right, it's that foxy Youko Kurama," she commented again while leaning on her desk within the audience, the girls all sent her glares.

"Alright, this is going to be sweet," Kuwabara exclaimed with a pumped-up fist.

"You're telling me that's Kurama," Yusuke voiced his question since this is the first time he's seen Kurama's true demon form.

"Basically, as you've heard his full name is Youko Kurama, but he's known as several other names too," Koenma informed and Hiei just smirked.

"You go king of thieves, you my man," the ogre shouted out from beside of the spirit detective's group.

"Creating a bomb from nothing takes talent, that kind of power is a sign you belong to a superior class of demons, a class I consider to be fairly worthy, worthy to fight, and worthy to die," Youko stated in his deeper voice.

"Flattering, but we're still not equals," Karasu started as he formed to glowing spheres from his energy, out of it formed monsters that were obviously bombs.

"Rest assured Karasu, I fully agree, now let's see, you create monsters that act as invisible bombs," the fox noted before Karasu launched the monsters at him. Youko reached into his hair and pulled out two roses before flicking them at the little monsters where they were embedded into their forms and exploded before they reached him. "How very clever, that's why I had such difficulty fighting you while I was trapped inside, lucky for me I found a way to break free from Shuichi Minamino long enough to finish you."

"That's fascinating, but nothing more than a loser's excuse, you weren't able to beat me then, and you won't be able now, but you're welcome to try," Karasu stated before forming more bomb monsters from his energy. These monsters only had one eye and wings on their sides, they were sent straight at Youko who easily dodged five by jumping in the air. While in the air, he moved to the right to avoid one more, backflipped to dodged another, and finally spun to the right to dodge the last. "When you come from the quest class of demons you find you can make all sorts of interesting things, these little jewels are what I like to call Trace Eyes. Once these bombs set their sights on you, they will follow you forever," Karasu informed.

Youko dodged another bomb by ducking his head slightly and kept running while saying, "ever heard of Ojigi, it's a rare plant and found only on Earth's South America. The Ojigi is extremely sensitive to movement, if it senses any king of movement it will quickly wrap it's leaves around it's pray," all of this while dodging the Trace Eyes.

"I have no interest in gardening," Karasu stated before all the bombs with eyes surrounded Youko so he couldn't move, "my, my, looks like you're surrounded, what's a boy to do."

"I thought you knew better than to corner an enemy like a fox Karasu, we have a tendency to show our teeth," Youko stated before exploding his spirit energy and forcing all the Trace Eyes to explode from all the energy. From the cloud dust it created, came a plant that was resembling of an Ojigi plant, but had been mutated to seem quite more demonic in nature. "An Ojigi plant is quite dangerous regularly, and it is several times more lethal and more sensitive when grown under a demon's energy." He then spotted Juri still in the ring, "you, unless you want to be plant food, don't move," he advised before she sounded out a 'k' which the demon plant spotted making her freeze. The plant seemed to sense that it would soon be fed and started to spring to life a little bit and move around hungrily, "it looks like it's zeroed in on you, I guess all your trembling must have caught its attention."

The demons Ojigi's mouths opened up and sum of them shot towards Karasu and forced him to dodge, the first he dodged by jumping straight, the next to the right and the final he jumped up before the came after him all at once. This forced him to run for his life as Koto talked, "um, okay, the tables one eighty and now Karasu's running around like a cockroach in the middle of a tap dancing convention."

"How does it feel to be the one pursued," Youko asked as Karasu kept dodging, only to be cornered when vines sprang up from the ground.

"Oh yeah, this one's in the bag," Koenma commented.

"Who cares if he's part of the whatever you call it class, Youko will still kick his but," Kuwabara exclaimed.

"It's called the quest class, I bet you don't remember your own name half the time," Hiei commented.

"Get off me, anyway, that super fox Kurama is going to beat that idiot, I just know it," the fool stated firmly.

'I hope so," Hiei thought as the plants began to spit a substance out of their mouths towards Karasu and forcing him to dodge them before the plants attacks again with their own bodies. This had Karasu dodging them as well, he formed a grenade in one hand and blew up a plant head that was about to get him, as he landed though, another plant head came straight for him.

"The Ojigi also responds to aggression, so it will be all the more vicious once you attack, you'll have to come up with a smarter way to kill it or bang," Youko ended what he said with a finger gun to his head. Up in the stands, Flora just fainted from a huge nose bleed and with a content yet somehow perverted smile on her face.

"I thought you told him to turn down the sexy fox self to keep Flora's sanity," Bloom's voice came through her husband's head.

"I did, but Youko Kurama seems to have different ideas," Hiei replied as he watched the fight and took a glance in the stands to see the girls were alright.

The plant finally caught up to Karasu and entangled him in its leaves and hoisting him up before squeezing to the point his mouth piece fell off from the blood he spit up. More of the plant heads came forward and wrapped him in their leaves leaving nothing open as if they were all fighting to devour him. "Hugh, I thought it was going to last much longer than that, I would have liked to toy with him a little before he died," Youko stated with a small smile.

"That was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Kurama's plant just grabbed Karasu and juiced him like a fresh orange, I never thought botany could be so deliciously gruesome," Koto commented.

"Kurama just showed that punk what was up, and he closed the deal in a measly five minutes, eat that Toguro," Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Yes, two more wins and it's done," Yusuke noted, so sure that victory was within their grasp.

"I didn't know Kurama could do that, remind me never to make that guy mad," Koenma stated and lost his focus on his teenage form and his head turned into that of a toddler.

"Koenma sir, look up, your face is leaking," the ogre yelled out before Koenma was forced to fix his face.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my bro, but it's nice to see somebody not embarrass themselves, now if only Flora could learn control," Shizuru observed from in front of them.

Soon the plant seemed to have eaten all of Karasu and Youko began to walk away, Juri was still a little out of it though, which caused Koto to call out, "hey Juri, get the lead out, it's time to tell us who's won."

That brought Juri back to reality, "I know, right, it looks like Karasu has been soundly defeated and the winner of the first match is team Urameshi's Kurama." The plant then done something that maybe Kurama and Juri were not expecting, it descended to the ground from its aerial position, "hey, stay back," Juri ordered.

The plant then did something that nobody expected, it exploded from the inside out, the explosion woke Flora up and shocked everyone else, "I wouldn't count me out just yet," the voice of Karasu was heard from the black smoke.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry, that was entirely my fault, everyone forget what I just said, the fight will now continue, okay," Juri said before walking off the ring, "this is insane, I don't know how much more of this I can take."

The two fighters stared each other down before Karasu began to talk, "you look surprised Youko, did you think that was the last you'd see of me." Before he began to inhale the very air around him. His hair went from black to blonde and his energy skyrocketed.

"Brace yourselves people, Karasu's back and he's not too happy, his hair has also changed from jet black to hyper blue blonde, to follow the stereo type, that means he's more popular and he's more aggressive," Koto commented.

"Can someone fill me in here, what's going on with his hair," Kuwabara foolishly asked, was it too much to ask for him to use his brain.

"It's an explicit sign he is internalizing his power which means the bombs he creates are inside of him, virtually making him one giant explosive, and if my assumptions are correct, he's about to detonate. If you're wise, you'll take cover now," Hiei informed as the spirit detective team all had shocked looks.

Karasu began chuckling sinister as he put his hands together and then broke them apart with lightning sparkling between them before creating a good-sized ball of energy. That energy grew larger and brighter before jumping up in the air and seemed to be suspended there by the very energy he created the ball with. He stayed there for a few seconds before dive bombing straight into Youko for a huge explosion to rock the very ring they were fighting in, a good chunk of the audience was taken out too. On the opposite sides of where the only audience members we care about are, and as the smoke cleared, Team Urameshi was getting out of the rubble it created.

"Hey, is everyone alright," Yusuke asked once he was out of the rubble, clearly not everyone was able to be seen with his own eyes.

"That idiot almost killed me, I should have him arrested," Koenma complained from still within the rubble pile.

"You guys hear singing," Kuwabara asked, then he noticed Hiei standing on a wall behind them, said demon just jumped down as if nothing was wrong.

Inside the ring, smoke was everywhere, scattered around and not making the ring unable to be seen completely, just some of it. "Now that's devastation, a significant portion of the ring has been completely wiped out, there are corpses everywhere and Kurama is nowhere to be seen," Koto commented. Soon rubble began to move and out of it stepped Kurama, not Youko Kurama, but the red haired Kurama that was nicer and less deadly. "That Kurama is like a nasty virus, you just can't get rid of him, however it looks like this last explosion has taken its toll, because now he's back to his original human form."

"Oh crap, the potion wore off, now he's really going to have to wing it," Yusuke noted.

"What, I don't get it, he said that stuff is supposing to last fifteen minutes, that's it, the next time I see Suzuka, I'm mopping up the floor with his face," Kuwabara exclaimed.

Kurama stumbled to get up and seemed to be in thought about something, until Karasu began speaking, "forgive me for disrupting your train of thought, but shouldn't you take this time to pray. After all, you are about to meet your creator, you can ask him why he flawed with you," then the guy began chuckling to himself. Kurama took out a rose from behind his hair and began putting spirit energy into it to make his rose whip, but was obviously having trouble because it instead destroyed the rose instead. "You're too weak Kurama, you can't even control the most basic of your attacks, make this easier on both of us and give in, I promise it won't hurt too much."

"Wow fight fans, the suspense is in the air here at the dark tournament, because everybody knows that one more solid hit by Karasu means curtains for you know who," Koto commented.

"If you think about it, death isn't really so frightening, who knows, you might actually enjoy it," Karasu commented himself before Kurama lost all thought and jumped into the ring to make a play for Karasu. Kurama made for a kick after running in a crescent to the other side of Karasu, who jumped to dodge it, Kurama then jumped and done a chop to take some of Karasu's hair. When they landed, Kurama went in again, this time aiming for a jab, it was dodged, then a roundhouse kick with his right leg, right jab, a couple spinning kicks, all dodged by Karasu.

"Oh man, Kurama's launching a full-blown assault on Karasu, but so far it's completely useless, blondie's dodging each punch, I can't take it anymore, I need some blood," Koto commented.

"He has a plan, it's obvious in the way that he moves," Hiei mentioned as Kurama still fought on, he made for a chop, left cross, then aright kick.

"I think you've finally lost your mind, if you come any closer, you're a dead man," Karasu stated before making an energy explosive again.

"I will not be afraid of something I cannot see," Kurama stated before jumping over the energy that was launched and landing in time to strike Karasu with a double palm thrust and forcing the new blonde to scoot back.

"You're just full of surprised, but I thought you'd be more original," Karasu began before pulling out a seed from inside his own chest where Kurama hit him. "You really thought that would work, it's called tact Kurama, you should really consider using some," he teased.

"That stupid jerk is really starting to tick me off," Kuwabara stated.

"He knows what Kurama's going to do before he does it," Yusuke noted.

"Guys, I don't think he's going to make it," Koenma guessed, wrongly so, but guessed none the less.

"I must congratulate you though, you've injured me more than once and that is practically unheard of," Karasu stated before destroying the seed and giving a signal for a trap to be sprung that caught Kurama by his left foot. A cord came from the ground as well, at the end was an eye with a fuse on its head, "that's what I call, my Mad Bomb." It soon exploded and dealt Kurama a great deal of pain to Kurama, sending blood spewing from his leg as he hit the ground hard.

Kurama laid there on his stomach for a few moments before getting to his feet, slowly, painfully, and taking a lot of energy, but he eventually got there. "Don't move another inch Kurama, you're surrounded by bombs," Yusuke yelled out to his teammate from outside the ring who looked and noticed that he was indeed surrounded by bombs.

"Didn't you say you choose not to be afraid of things you could not see, well here's a better look, you know that this entire battle has been an exercise in futility. You're weak, you're tired, you're powerless, you're pathetic, yet it seems you have a masochistic streak that likes indulging, so here goes," Karasu said as he began to detonate the bombs. One after the other, from the front, then the shoulder, then the back, each detonation was at a different spot until his clothes was covered in blood.

"Karasu is such a bastard, he's clearly playing with him now, I wish he would get this over with," Shizuru said, more to herself than anything, but others still heard her.

"Don't say that again, if Karasu kills Kurama, I'll kill him myself, I've grown to like Kurama greatly and if he takes him away from me then I'll tear out his voice box and feed it to him," Flora stated with a deadly and demonic aura around her.

Kurama was on his knees panting heavily from the attacks, "your red hair is perfect for that fiery spirit that I admire, you know that's why I've decided to leave your beautiful face unharmed. I may not be able to keep you, but I'll always have the memory of your face to give me comfort," Karasu stated. Kurama chose at that time to stand up again, without more of the trouble this time though, still bloody, but up. "Alright, let's end this," then began the bombardment again, this time even more blood was shed then before, ending with Kurama a bloody mess and no more bombs.

Just as Kurama was about to fall over and faint, he heard the voice of another woman he has grown to care for, the fairy known as Flora from the planet of Linphea in the magical dimension. "Don't give up Kurama, don't die and don't quit," Flora yelled at Kurama as he was falling, and just as he was about to topple over, he caught himself. In one fluid motion with catching himself, he sent out one last resort and in a flash struck Karasu with the bloodsucking plant to kill the bombing demon. The demon was so shocked that he almost died without a word in, in fact, the demon did die without getting a word in through the whole sucking of his own blood.

"And the winner in one fluid motion is Kurama with his wonderful burst of blood sucking flowers," Juri announced to everyone as the full flower from the blood sucking bloomed.

"We did it, in your face," Kuwabara exclaimed with pride and a fist pump for good measure.

"You made a nice flower pot out of him Kurama," Yusuke stated before jumping into the ring and straight over to his teammate, "how you feeling there champ?"

"Fine," Kurama stated before he regretted speaking and then proceeded to fall to his knees from the amount of blood he lost during the fight.

"Alright tough guy, let's get you out of the ring for some medical attention," the detective stated before picking said fox up and helping him walk back to outside the ring to watch the rest of the fights.

Then the guy in armor from team Toguro stepped forward, he obviously seems ready to fight, "oh Bui, I wasn't expecting you to step forward so soon, your team must be special, he rarely shows this much initiative," the elder Toguro mentioned loud enough for them to hear. "This should be dandy, whichever one of you gets to fight Bui is in for quite the treat, he has the strength of a thousand armies."

"Oh yeah, well take a look at these big guns I got here, let me go at this guy," Kuwabara requested with a pumped-up arm.

"So, you want to be buried in that or something descent," Koenma asked, mostly from a joking standpoint, but still asked.

"Now that you're close to my height junior, why don't you say that to my face," the fool suggested with a yell as he grabbed the prince by his shirt collar.

"Yusuke, I planned to take the thug with the sunglasses for myself, but after what he did to Genkai, I believe that vengeance belongs to you," Hiei stated before speeding to the ring edge, "but this thug will do just as well."

He began to silently walk into the ring, "but hey, I thought I had the big guy," the fool commented while he still had a hold of Koenma.

"What about burial flowers, do you like roses," Koenma asked from his spot still in the fool's grip.

"Will you please be quiet I'm trying to think here," Kuwabara exclaimed to the prince as he shook Koenma violently as the prince giggled.

Hiei and Bui walked silently to the center of the ring, and when they got there, Juri announced, "measuring at 4"10" without his hair, Hiei, at 9 feet, Bui."

"Wow, nine feet, that's tall, and it's more than enough man to go around ladies, then again, Hiei has proven on numerous occasions that kickass things come in short packages too, his wife can attest to that I bet," Koto commented.

"You have no idea, some nights over the three-month training period we never got any sleep because Hiei was being kickass," Tecna commented while sending a little glare to Bloom, then to Hiei who was unaffected.

"I have no idea who's going to win this one people, but I can state with certainty that it's going to be exciting," Koto commented again before Bui formed an ax from his own energy in the palm of his right hand. "Oh my, is it my imagination or has Bui's ax gotten even bigger since the last time he formed it from thin air, I can't wait to see how he wields it in this go around."

"Not a bad weapon you got there Bui, but with all due respect, I must say I still prefer my own," Hiei commented before shedding his cloak and revealing a right hand wrapped in bandages and seals.

"Man, look how tightly Hiei has those bandages wrapped around his arm, his injuries must not be anywhere close to healing for real," Kuwabara foolishly commented.

"No, you've misunderstood Hiei's true motives, the purpose of this particular binding is not to repair," Kurama stated, still not looking to good.

"What the hell, so it's just there to look pretty," Yusuke being his smart-ass self couldn't help but commented.

"Why use bandages that doesn't make your hurty spots better," the fool asked in the way that makes everyone call him the fool.

"And now, the second match in the final round of the dark tournament, ready, set, go," Juri announced before Bui made the first move and made a mad dash for Hiei before jumping high in the air and slamming the ax in the exact spot Hiei was in.

"Your aim is as broad as your ax, could at least try and hit me next time," Hiei asked with a taunt from several feet away from Bui, who began to lift his ax from the ground, but took a chunk of the ring with it. With a flick of the ax, the chunk of ring was launched towards Hiei who dodged it with a simple jump before Bui done the same thing again and Hiei dodged again. Bui kept on repeating the same motion over and over again with Hiei dodging them all with simple movements while quite a few of the chunks hit the audience.

"Nobody can explain to me why the combatants keep attacking the audience, though it does make the pain a little more wide spread and I do love that," Koto commented as she watched the audience get attacked.

When the chunks halted for a moment, Hiei commented, "I may be a small target, but this is sad," he stopped running and broke the covering on his jagan and ignited his left fist. "Prepare yourself for the fist of the mortal flame," the chunks came flying and all of them were demolished by Hiei's fist and on the last one is when Bui made a move to drop down to hit him with his ax. Hiei had other plans though because he kept the fist of the mortal flame active and proceeded to collide it with Bui's ax where after a few moments of struggling energies, the ax broke off and flew past Juri into the audience. Bui made another ax with his energy, "at least you are consistent, consistently foolish if you think this ax will have any more impact than the last." Bui then threw the ax straight at Hiei who rose his energy with his left arm raised and caught the ax before destroying it with just his energy.

"Well that's amazing, Hiei not only stopped the blade with his bare hand, he then incinerated it to boot," Koto commented.

"Remind me never to let Hiei touch me anytime soon, or like, ever," Kuwabara requested as if Hiei would want to touch him.

"I warned you that was a foolish maneuver, but you refused to listen, much to your disadvantage and to my boredom, and that is not forgivable," Hiei stated in a bored tone.

Bui's eyes glowed red before he spoke in a deep and raspy voice, "sorry to bore you, I'll remove my armor."

"Did you hear that, Bui spoke for the first time in the tournament, his timbering voice so richly deep that my two little cat ears are tingling, in fact my whole body's got shivers," Koto commented.

Bui began undoing his armor as he spoke, "you should know two things Hiei the swordsman, I was saving this for someone else, and this is the highest compliment I give."

"Hm, I am honored, really I am, but are you sure you're strong enough to take a direct hit from me without any armor," Hiei asked with a smirk.

"I'll handle it," Bui said before tossing his forearm guard aside like it was nothing and almost hitting Kuwabara and Koenma if the hadn't stepped aside in time to see it and to see it embed itself into the ground from the massive weight.

"Woah that's heavy, and that's just one of his arm things, how'd he ever fight in all that stuff, let alone stand up straight in it," the fool asked.

Bui was bending down in order to undo his shin guards when the ogre that accompanied Koenma advised something, "opportunity knocks Hiei, if you hit him while he's kneeling he won't be able to fight back."

"Hiei's an honorable person and would never do anything so deceitful, it's too beneath him," Botan stated while said ogre shrunk a little.

"I suppose you'd just attack a man with your back turned to you as well, wouldn't you, or how about handcuffs or blindfolds ogre, would that be better," Shizuru asked while the ogre shrunk some more.

"Did you just imply that my husband needs some stupid little trick to win against someone," Bloom asked from behind him and making shrink to the point of an ant and too frightened of Bloom to say anything else.

Bui was done removing his shin guards and let them make a small crater, "most fighters wear armor to protect themselves from their opponent," Bui started before he removed his helmet and let it hit the ground. "But I'm the opposite, I actually wear this armor to protect my opponent from myself," he said again after removing his mouthpiece. "You see, my powers are so great I can't control them on my own," he said before an aura started to envelop his entire body and shoot out massive amounts of it, and soon began to levitate a little bit.

"Woah, how did I not pick up on this guy's energy," Kuwabara asked since he clearly didn't see anything that happened in the ring.

"Because of his armor, it contains his power," Kurama informed as he looked on and looking better than at the end of his fight.

"If it contains it, why in the hell would he take it off of him," Yusuke stupidly asked, sometime Hiei wondered why he hasn't went brain dead.

"No, what I meant by contains is that his armor keeps his power from escaping, definition number two," Kurama explained.

"I call this battle aura, I'd like to see you try and top it," Bui said with a smile while still in the air from the energy flow.

"And so would I, but I doubt I'll have to try," Hiei stated before unleashing his own energy and sped towards Bui, Hiei was forced back to the ground in a flash that it was unclear what happened. Bui decided to head straight in like a missile before Hiei used a wordless flamethrower to send a spiral stream of flames to meet Bui. The flame hit and forced Bui to stop for a moment, but only a moment, as the next his battle aura exploded again and forced the flames to disappear.

Bui then sent a wave of energy straight for Hiei who used his fist of the mortal flame to in a widespread attack to get rid of the energy in a burst of power. Then Bui made his arms form an x shape and sent energy at Hiei spiraling and following him, so Hiei got an idea to appear behind Bui and then left as soon as the energy was behind him and didn't have enough time to change course.

Bui got hit by his own attack and went plummeting to the ground making an explosion that lit up the whole arena and a wave of energy through the ceiling of the arena as well. But when Hiei got to the crater he saw that Bui was fine and well before his battle aura let him levitate again, "I told you you'd have to try and top me Hiei. Maybe now you'll take me more seriously and give me the respect I deserve," Bui stated as he floated to the ground on the other side of the crater. "My attacks are designed only to be as strong as necessary to take out my opponent, as you can see, that's not even enough to put a dent in me, take that anyway you'd like."

Bui floated up again before Hiei spoke, "so, it takes a lot more than that to bang you up, here comes a lot more," he then began to undo his bindings on his right hand.

"Hey, Hiei's taking off that bandage you were talking about, you know the one that doesn't do what it's supposed to do," Kuwabara noted.

"It seems you misunderstood, on the contrary Kuwabara, that binding has accomplished precisely what it was intended to do, which for Hiei is similar to Bui's armor. Though in Hiei's case, it's not just his own energy that's trapped in that arm," Kurama explained.

Hiei's arm wrappings were undone fully by then, and revealed to be a dragon tattoo on his right arm, and it was engulfed in black flames, and soon his entire form was engulfed in the black flames. "Once your own doom has been unraveled, I assure you there's no turning back," Hiei stated.

"Time is wasting, let's go ahead and finish," Bui insisted as his aura left him hanging in the air.

"Quiet fool, I don't need to be told to hurry up, it's in my nature, and now the end, it's been pulling at the bandages for some time, I couldn't hold it for long, you're the next sacrifice to the Dragon of the Darkness Flame," Hiei stated as black flames swarmed around him.

"Wow, fire is leaping form Hiei's arm and excited goosebumps are screaming from mine that bit boy is back," Koto commented.

"It's even more than before, without control he could kill us all," Kurama noted from the energy output.

Shizuru was getting chills form the form of the dragon and Botan was feeling it too, Bloom just gave them a sheepish smile and said, "sorry," from the disturbed feeling they were getting.

Just like last time, a dark presence filled the sky and darkened as black pillars of energy shot forth from the sea and into the sky all around the island. Black lightning seemed to crackle and unleash everywhere around them as everything went ominous, but unlike last time, it was more powerful and therefore more destructive.

"What an attack, our state of the art ring is already crumbling under its power, this could mean surprise injuries galore," Koro commented before she noticed Juri still in the ring. "Juri get back, that isn't a safe place to be right now," she yelled over to the girl that was on the verge of crying.

"I can't Koto, I don't want to be a pretty referee girl anymore," Juri said before she did start to cry, this forced Koto to use a ribbon to wrap around Juri's tail and yank her back from the ring.

Hiei seemed to be done charging the dragon and was now ready to unleash it upon his opponent, the energy he was unleashing before that though was so much to the point that part of the ring was starting to break up. Hiei broke out in a run towards Bui's levitating form before shouting, "Dragon of the Darkness Flame," and unleashed a huge dragon upon Bui the likes of which the dark tournament had never seen with a black core and red outline. Bui screamed as he unleashed his battle aura at full power and tried his best to actually catch the dragon, but the dragon impacted him and sent him skidding back quite a bit until it stopped. "I hope you don't think that dragon is completed," Hiei said before sending a blast at the dragon itself and forcing the dragon to gain more power and change to a dragon with a black core and light blue outline. The dragon took Bui all around the arena before crashing through the ceiling and into part of the rock formation of hanging neck island as Hiei went to a better vantage point to see his work.

Bui pushed more power into his battle aura and did the impossible, he actually bent the dragon and forced to back in Hiei's direction, and in one motion, the dragon swallowed Hiei whole. It roamed around in the skies for a bit before disappearing and Bui jumping down and into the ring before saying, "victory, him first, Toguro soon after."

"What a maneuver, Bui managed to force the dragon of the darkness flame away from himself and directly toward Hiei, causing the three-eyed warrior to be swallowed by his own beast of destruction," Koto commented.

The girls were all on the brink of tears from watching what just happened, but when they turned to look at Bloom, she was smirking one of Hiei's smirks, which didn't look right on her.

"It's all clear now Juri, time for you to make the official call," Koto told the ref, but she mumbled something while asleep, "Juri, we can't have the gore fest without you, Juri, all the rich and cute boys will be watching you."

Juri got up and saw that Hiei had been swallowed by the dragon, "Hiei can't compete without a body so the official winner can only be," that was as far as she got before a flame appeared behind Bui.

It exploded and knocked Juri down and grew in size before and eventually, it crashed to the ground and unleashed its contents, a living and breathing Hiei. "This brings up my next attack, it's a little different," Hiei stated as he stood from a kneeling position and looked fine, just right as rain.

"I can't really articulate what happened here people, it looked like the dragon had eaten Hiei, but now the demon's back and appears to be unharmed," Koto commented.

"Something gigantic is still here, I can't explain it but Hiei's attack is on its way," Shizuru commented while trembling a little.

"He looks wrong," Yukina noted that her brother looked a bit different from when he started the fight.

"Why's that Yukina, I don't think he looks any different from when he disappeared a minute ago, except that wound on his arm isn't there anymore," Keiko noted.

"A new attack, Wait, did he just do what I think he did," Yusuke asked and not liking the answer he got.

"It's true, Hiei has consumed the darkness technique, apparently he's learned what no one before him has, the only way to gain real control over the darkness flame is to trap it within. Now the dragon is inside him, and at his full disposal, even Bui must accept what that means, and judging by how Bloom is reacting, this was part of his plan all along," Kurama noted.

"Countless centuries, countless masters trying to harness the power of the darkness flame, only I have had the courage, and the strength to realize it's glorious potential, I have the power of the black dragon, because now I am the dragon," Hiei stated with a black fire in his eyes. Bui jumped up in the air and decided to finally attack by delivering a right cross to Hiei's jaw, but the demon was unaffected by it. "Nice," he said and forced Bui to just go berserk and hit him continuously with crosses and kicks and the like, all the while Hiei just takes it like it's nothing, because it is.

"And Bui unloads like an angry toddler in a therapy session, but Hiei is absolutely unaffected," Koto commented with the ogre by her side, for some reason.

Bui had enough and decided to grab Hiei's head and flip him before punching him in the stomach while in the air and then grabbing him and throwing him in the air. He jumped after him and kneed him in the back before slamming him in the ceiling, Bui then grabbed Hiei and tossed him back to the ring while giving him a kick to the face while in the air for good measure. Hiei just rose from the crash like it was nothing before Bui unleashed his battle aura some more and flying for Hiei with a battle cry to hit him with a fist. Hiei just rose his left hand to block the right fist lazily, and he actually did catch it lazily, and then he actually lazily sucked in Bui's battle aura.

"Insane, Hiei has actually sucked away Bui's battle aura, the secret of all his power," Koto commented.

"Come now, can't you even test me," Hiei asked with clear agitation at Bui's weak performance, this was the time Bui made a mad dash for him as Hiei charged up a blast in his right palm. When Bui was in range, Hiei shot his hand forward and only his energy reached Bui, but that was enough for Bui to be sent flying out of the arena. Hiei chased after him and took the form of a dragon behind Bui before charging his fist with energy and punching him to the audience with one punch where Hiei landed at his feet with grace.

"Both are outside the ring, I'll start the count," Juri stated before she fell into a crack in the ring that was broken beyond repair.

"Finish, the first time Toguro beat me he told me I had the potential to get stronger, he was right, it took someone like him to show me how weak I was. He kept me at his side while I trained hard to kill him, and I know I reached my max, but every time I would get stronger, so would he, I'm sure it was just bait to keep me improving. Now you've beaten me, what's the point, come on, hurry up and kill me," Bui requested of the victor.

"No, if you want to die, kill yourself," Hiei stated before jumping back to the ring at the count of eight, "I don't take orders, especially from those I've beat."

"And ten, the second fight is over, Hiei takes the point," Juri announced as all the fans of Hiei cheered him on.

"Did you hear that Toguro, we're looking at a tie ballgame," Yusuke yelled out at the one who he needs to defeat.

Hiei walked over to his teammates before Kuwabara decided to open his dumb mouth, "wait, this is a no dragon man area, okay, but you can go about twenty yards in the other direction and fight the rest of them."

Hiei was shaking from his attack wearing off, "that's against the rules now you fool, besides my attack expire, I don't know if your brains can imagine it, but this attack drained a good deal of my energy. I'll require some hibernation to get it back, think you can find a good place for my body where it won't get stepped on. Listen to me as close as you can you two, I'm trusting you against my better instincts only because I have no other choice, take care of the Toguro brothers. If I wake up and we've lost I sweat I'll kill you all, and don't let Bloom near my body with a marker or pineapple," he said that last bit before passing out.

The rest of his team just blinked at him before they started to laugh at the fact that Hiei just threatened them before passing out, "that's Hiei for you, he still faints but he still has time for threats."

"Hold on, so nothing we do will wake him up, and what was that about Bloom, a marker, and a pineapple," Kuwabara asked.

"Not long ago he was on a streak of terror, if he had this power then it would have been disastrous, now it's our asset," Koenma pointed out.

"Can I give him a mustache," Kuwabara asked and not at all realizing that a dark aura was around Bloom.

"I wouldn't, not unless you want to deal with Mrs. dragon up there," Yusuke stated while gesturing to Bloom who had warning eyes at Kuwabara, nobody pranks Hiei but her.

"Touch him and I'll kill you," she threatened with danger in her eyes, so Kuwabara decided to do the smart thing and put the marker top back on and not draw on him.

After that, a little discussion broke out in the ring and soon a long intermission started and allowed the girls to move around the arena, they went and got some concessions and returned to their seats. They didn't really know if they were allowed to go to the locker room, and soon Toguro came in with the ring from the old stadium on his back.

In the locker room around six hours later, Hiei woke up to see Bloom, Kurama, and Flora in a room with him. "Finally awake I see, and don't worry, I know not to mess with you when it's this serious, did you really think I would," Bloom asked.

"You can never tell, there was that time on level forty where you actually put itching powder in my clothes before a boss fight," Hiei noted as he set up and looked at them.

"Well, you've been out for six hours, and no, the tournament is not over, because you destroyed the ring in your fight, the ring from the old stadium had to be brought in," Flora informed next.

"However, Toguro decided to bring the old ring back on his back instead of having us all wait so I believe we'll begin shortly," Kurama finished.

"I just received the official word, the ring is now in place and we'll be ready to start in thirty minutes, please make your way to the seats in an orderly fashion, and Juri if you can hear this, get your but over here," Koto announced through the intercom.

"Shall we all go, the girls to their seats and us fighters to the ring of course," Kurama stated before they all nodded and went to their places with a kiss goodbye with the two love birds.

Then came what happened during the rest of the fights, Kuwabara versus elder Toguro, elder Toguro telling Kuwabara about Genkai's death, elder Toguro's creepy puppet show, his almost defeat at Kuwabara's hands. Finally, after a few close calls, and a lot of creepy and a little puking from the Winx, the elder Toguro was finally defeated and making the overall winners Team Urameshi.

Younger Toguro didn't like that and decided to continue to fight Yusuke regardless of the scoreboard, then Yusuke unleashed spirit cuffs and him and Toguro continued to go at it. It still wasn't enough so Genkai came in and told Toguro how to get more power from Yusuke, kill one of his friends, so Toguro seemingly killed Kuwabara in front of him. This brought out more power from within Yusuke where he was finally able to defeat Toguro, then went over to have a discussion with his team about Kuwabara's passing. Then Kuwabara revealed that he was alive and well, that got him beat up by Yusuke, then the arena started to shake before Sakyo announced his plan to blow the place up.

They all bolted out of the arena with that announcement, for one moment they needed to stop and rescue the other group of girls because Keiko had stopped because Yusuke was close to death at one point. After that the Winx had to blow up some debris that had fallen in front of the exit so people couldn't get out. They all met up outside of the arena when they turned around and saw that the building had exploded in a grand explosion after everyone made it out, well, everyone from their group.


	8. The Army of Darkness

Demons and Fairies

Chapter 8

The Army of Darkness

It's now been a day or so after the arena blew up, Team Urameshi was in their room, the Winx club and the other girls were at the beach on the island, all their stuff was packed and all that was left to go was to head out and go to their respective homes. "That's all the quiet staring I can handle, let's get out of here, okay," Yusuke commented but nobody moved, "after all this time it's going to feel weird not fearing for my life," he commented again as way of joking.

"Don't sweat it Urameshi, I could beat you up at school every day if that makes you feel better," Kuwabara suggested as he scratched his cheek, he was obviously joking but the only one who chuckled at the joke was Kurama.

"Yusuke's right, normal life for us all will seem pale for a while," the fox stated with a smile, he was obviously missing out on the fact that he and Hiei were both in relationships with fairies that can't seem to stay out of trouble, not for a single week.

It was at that time when Pu came to the window to be let in on the discussion, "hey," Yusuke opened the window to let the creature in, "there you are, alright Pu, I didn't think you'd ever come back after Genkai started talking through you. You're kind of like a telephone to the other side aren't you, well what are you waiting for operator, patch me into grandma, come on, which side is your receiver, what you'll do it for her but not for me," Yusuke asked as he messed with the creature.

"Stop it, Yusuke, it's not possible anymore, the spirit world Genkai spoke from was the land between the living and the dead, for a short time she'd stay in spirit world before parting that junction and head for their real journey begins. In truth, spirit world is a complex system of many different worlds, and with the lands of the dead there is no communication, Genkai's was a priority case, her placement should have been quick, so it's time we said our real goodbyes to her," Kurama suggested.

"It's so dumb, but fine, you heard fox boy, there's nothing we can do for the old hag if she's already limp, just gotta keep on trucking, yes sir, I'm going outside and make myself a nice, big, shiny, first place medal and sit in the sun with this stupendous first day dammit." Yusuke said all that as he was leaving the room, the other three were left in silence and couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor guy that expressed his grief through anger and outbursts.

Hiei stopped leaning against the wall in the room and looked at where the detective left, "hn, he's so neck deep in repression even I feel sorry for him," he commented before Pu flew after his other half, Hiei decided to go meet his other half as well before heading somewhere else.

Everyone else was inside and getting ready for their departure from the island while Hiei and the girls were outside, Hiei was going to go back home with Bloom to meet the in-laws again, his first meeting with his mother-in-law wasn't his best impression. While the others were going to take the boat back to the mainland, Hiei and Bloom were going to teleport to Gardenia while the other members of the Winx club were going to go back to school, maybe Flora will visit Kurama, but the others were going back to Magix.

The others finally got outside, and everyone looked out at the ocean before they headed home, "you know, I'm actually going to miss this stupid place, feels like we've been here for years," Yusuke commented in a depressed tone.

"Losing someone can do that," Botan began before Kuwabara put his hand over her mouth and began to whisper to her about something the others didn't feel like wasting magic to try and hear.

"Well, like you all, we have places we need to be, but we don't want to go on a boat ride, so see ya, it was gross, fun at times, but mostly gross," Stella commented as she made the square portal back to the realm of Magix with a wave of her hand.

"I think what Stella is trying to say is that we'll be staying away from demon tournaments from now on, but come by Magix some time, we still have plenty of events you are not going to want to miss," Musa suggested as she shook everyone's hand.

"Remember though, you can't actually come into the school if you're human with no spiritual or magical ability, sorry Keiko, but that means you're out," Tecna reminded, she didn't want the girl to be left out, but the rules are the rules.

"That's okay Tecna, I've had my own fill of demons and fighting myself, just watching the guys fight was enough for me to die from a panic attack," Keiko reasoned with a wave of her hand as if it was no big deal, she actually did want to go, but she knew she couldn't do anything about it.

"Oh, looky here, our ships arrived, isn't that happy," Kuwabara noted before everyone else looked to wear a horn blared out before they all noted to what they were going back to, Yusuke and skipping detention, Kuwabara and games, Kurama and his mother.

Hiei didn't need to say anything, what he wanted to get back to was always at his side, but that didn't mean he couldn't make a small joke, "various crimes," which earned him a slap on the back of the head from his wife, it was well worth it to see all the deadpans.

"Well excuse me if I'm a little insulted," a gravely voice echoed throughout the group and made everyone stop and turn to see the owner of the voice, "you just going to leave the old fossil behind," Genkai surprisingly said not too far off from the group. Everyone, not Hiei, was ecstatic that she was alive and ran to her immediately, even the Winx club who hadn't known her long ran to celebrate her return from the dead, "must have rubbed off on me dimwit, I died like you, half-assed."

"Well, before the tears start to fall and I have to spend an hour comforting her, I suggest that me and Bloom leave, we have places to go," Hiei stated before turning to go in another direction then everyone else before he was called back by Botan.

"Hiei, Koenma wanted me to give you this, it's your own compact mirror, keep it on you at all times so that we can contact you incase you're needed, he's granted you permission to travel between Magix, the town you're already confined to, and Gardenia, that's it," Botan informed.

Hiei said nothing as he took the device and stuffed it in his pocket before Bloom walked to his side, she opened a portal for them before walking through it and finding themselves in a park at noon, the perfect time to visit the in-laws, oh what a happy day. They both walked with their arms locked and headed out of the park and headed straight for Bloom's parents house, it didn't look like much other than a nice apartment in a nice part of the town, Hiei never noticed before since he was too focused on finding her. When they reached the door, Bloom knocked, and they waited until someone came to open the door, it finally opened and revealed Vanessa looking ecstatic that her daughter and her husband have returned home, "Bloom, I've missed you sweetie," the mother said with a hug.

"I've missed you too mom, I know you've already met, but this is my husband, Hiei, formerly known as Imiko," Bloom introduced and Hiei held out his hand for a handshake before Vanessa scooped him up into a hug that was actually a little bone crushing, even for him.

"In this family, we don't greet each other with a handshake, only a hug will be enough for my new son-in-law," she informed, Hiei looked to Bloom for help on what to do, he does not hug, but his wife just looked at him as if expecting him to hug her back. Thankfully though, Vanessa got the message that Hiei wasn't one for hugs and decided to pull herself off him, "it's alright if you're not into hugs, at least for the moment, but we'll get you there eventually," she smiled as she said this and Hiei gave her a deadpan.

Vanessa led them inside the house and rushed them into the living room where a man was busy reading a newspaper, so he didn't notice them until Bloom said something, "wow dad, I know it's your job to be protective, but at least say hello to my husband."

"Bloom," Mike exclaimed before shooting up and making to hug his daughter that has returned home for a visit, "I've missed you," he then saw Hiei and regarded him, "hello, I'm Mike Peters, Blooms father, and your father-in-law, nice to finally meet the one who stole her heart."

If Hiei was any other person, and didn't want to make a good impression, he'd make a joke about how he was a good thief, a damn good thief, but he just held out his hand for Mike to shake and said, "likewise, it's good to meet the one who raised her so well, she's a good person," stoically.

"I hope that flattery isn't hope that you'll be able to share a room if you're staying here for the night before heading back to Alfea, you may be married but she's still my little girl, how long are you two staying anyways," Mike asked after making a comment.

"Two nights, Hiei needs some time to recover from a tournament he was forced to participate in, him and his team won the whole thing, but he was the only one to go undefeated," Bloom replied with a small grin at that little fact, her own little champion of the whole tournament.

"Wow, undefeated while the rest of your team lost a fight, that's impressive, but I hope that you kept out of the fighting, Bloom, I don't want to have to have the safety talk with the husband at this stage," Mike commented with a slight glare to the fire demon.

"You don't have to worry about that, Hiei even had a little talk with me about even becoming just a place holder in the final round, but oh well, how's everything else been going at the shop, mom," Bloom asked as they all took seats in the living room. That is where Hiei tuned out the chatter and chose to meditate instead, Bloom was able to pass it off as him recovering his energy from all the fights, she told of how he was actually a demon, if it were anyone else he wouldn't have allowed it, but this counts as family.

They accepted him regardless before they began to talk some more until night time, "now, we're going off to bed, Hiei can sleep down here while Bloom has her room, that is not going to change," Mike stated adamantly before him and Vanessa went to their room.

Bloom smiled to her parents as they moved up to their room before focusing back on Hiei, "have you given any thought to what you're going to do when we get back to Magix, you still need work or at least something to do while I'm in college," she asked as she snuggled next to him on the couch.

"True, I will need something to do while you're stuck in classes all day, but I have that covered, I talked with the law enforcement in Magix about becoming a bounty hunter, there are some criminals that need to be caught and I'm just the demon to do it," he replied with an evil smirk.

"That's a relief, I wouldn't want you to get board and go looking for trouble, remember when you got board on the forty eighth floor, it was when we were part of the scouting team for the floor bosses," Bloom asked with a giggle of amusement.

"You just had to bring that up, as I said when it happened, I didn't know the layout of the land, so how was I supposed to know I'd end up in a brothel, I didn't even know they had brothels in that virtual world," Hiei said with a shrug.

"Either way, it was very cute how you came out of there all flustered and yelling out, 'get away from me you worthless self-loathing harlots', I've never really seen you act that way and it was funny to see for the first time," she admitted while trying to imitate him, not even close to himself.

"Funny to you, but don't worry, I won't be going out to find trouble for myself, but we will still need a place to stay over your summer break and when you graduate," he said as he stood up and reached into his pocket to bring something out. It was a letter addressed to him, the same letter that Botan gave him when he first woke up, he showed it to Bloom whose eyes widened when she saw who it was from, and what was in the letter. "If you're having any trouble fully remembering or understanding how I got this letter, let me explain, for a few of the friends we made, I told them that if they ever die in the game, tell who leads them to the afterlife to mention the name Hiei, they did. That's also how I got our rings back, our friend that made them in SAO said they were replicas of ones he had in his shop, during that one attack on us by player killers, he died and told Botan about me, said to get the gold box that had our rings in them. That one friend who died while on that mission with the liberation army to attack gleam eyes, he mentioned me to Botan and that gave her reason enough to give her the money to give to me, but the last one was actually a challenge. Our blonde friend mentioned me to Botan and was able to persuade the ferry-girl to right me a letter on where she put a blank deed to a house like what we had back in the game, deep down I think they all knew that someone would beat the game and get us out."

Bloom read the letter again and again, and just as luck would have it, the house and deed to that house was in Gardenia, or to be more specific, it was right on the edge of town in the rural district, "even in death, our friends are still helping us," she commented with a small tear in her eye.

"Don't expect surprises like this all the time, I still have a reputation to maintain," Hiei joked with a smirk on his face as he stood behind her and watched as she craned her neck to look at him, they both knew what the other was thinking.

* * *

The next night

The next night is when they arrived back to the in-law's house, they had just been to see their house and it looked just like it did back in SAO, all they needed to do was restore it a little bit and it would be perfect for them, so they came back while that was done. They were just about to enter when Hiei sensed something off as Bloom was about to enter, Hiei grabbed her wrist and put his finger to his lips, that was when she knew that something was up, Hiei phased out and went in through the back. Bloom knew where he was going, this had always been their plan of attack in a home invasion, or any break in, he would sneak in through the back while she strutted in through the front in order to gauge the enemy strength before they both attacked.

When she got inside though, fear set in as she found the Trix standing in front of a dark plant that held her father upside down while a yellow ogre had a hold of her mother, it was a hostage situation and that changed things a bit. "Good evening Bloom, we've come to pay your parents a visit, I can call them that, right, now, we're going to take what rightfully belongs to us, go on ogre, she's all yours," Icy commanded before the ogre let out a roar and made to throw Bloom out.

Bloom had another other idea though, she had been practicing on transforming in an instant, and she did, blue cheerleader outfit, just what Hiei describes it as, and wings, before giving her fire physical form and making a trip rope for the ogre to trip over and fall out of the house. Bloom then launched herself for the ogre and rammed him into the ground by coating her form in a ball of fire, she walked out of the small hole she made as if she did nothing and glared at the Trix that were coming out of a dark bubble they formed for entrances, it seemed anyways. "You are going to be so sorry you attacked my parents," Bloom stated as she received a mental link up with Hiei, 'I hope that you get my parents out of there, I can't take all three Trix on by myself for long,' she told him honestly as she took to the skies to face the Trix.

'We have a slight problem, they accounted for someone to be here while they were busy with you, your parents are over a black hole and suspended with magic, if I try and free them, I could trip up and make them fall,' Hiei replied to her as he assessed the situation.

"No," Bloom said out loud before making her way back inside and saw that it was true, Hiei couldn't do anything because of the magic that the Trix were controlling, one wrong move and they would be sent to oblivion with no way to help them.

"We've learned a lot since our last bout, so it's magically spelled to only be undone if you hand over your power to us, and we have this little seal talisman we got from a quick trip to Japan for your hubby in case he got any ideas," Stormy said as she held up said talisman. She tossed the talisman to the demon for him to put on himself, Hiei inspected it and found that it actually was a sealing talisman, made to use one's own energy and turn it against them while causing as much pain as possible, whoever made it knew what they were doing.

With Bloom's family held hostage, he had no choice but to obey, he put the talisman on his right arm and felt the small amount of pain that it caused, it was small because he had felt even greater pain before, so it was small compared to that. "Now, for the dragon's flame," Icy said icily, there was nothing Bloom could do as she bowed her head and let Icy, Darcy, and Stormy steal her dragon's flame through a combined triad spell that linked all three of them together with the dragon's flame.

After the ritual was over, they disappeared in a haze of purple smoke, Mike and Vanessa was out of danger as the black whole closed and they were guided down to safety, Hiei couldn't do anything at the moment other than watch with his power sealed and family was in danger. Now that the danger has passed, he was able to tear off the seal and go over to Bloom who was weak from the spell used, and as he got to her, there was a light that filled the room and out of it came Stella, "Bloom, what's wrong," she asked.

"The Trix, they followed us and attacked by holding my parents hostage, they took my magic," Bloom informed as she clutched onto Hiei a little tighter, he wanted to comfort her, but couldn't find the words to say, she has just lost the one connection to her people.

"Why don't you two come back with me to Alfea, I'm sure we'll find some way to get back at the Trix and thwart their evil plans, plus, with your dragon's flame gone, Hiei's the only one with a dragon's flame to protect everyone," Stella suggested, smartly for once.

"That'll be for the best," Bloom said before turning to her parents and hugging them bye before Stella teleported them to Alfea, so they could all fight back, with the Trix having the dragon's flame, only bad things can happen.

* * *

Alfea

They got to Alfea and found nothing out of the ordinary, so whatever the Trix had planned hasn't happened yet, so they walked through the front entrance to the campus like nothing had happened, or made it seem that way that is, thankfully they were all good at acting. The three of them solemnly walked to Faragonda's office to let her know about what happened, and that they could all be attacked at any moment, so they needed to be ready for that eventuality, and to warn the other schools as well.

"I think that the best thing to do is make sure that all the students are given a crash course on offensive combat magics, we need them to be ready in case there's a war on our hands," Hiei suggested from his spot next to his wife, he had his right arm around her comfortingly.

"Why would a war be on our hands, they might have the power of the dragon's flame, but they have no way to control it, they don't have the experience," Griselda asked from beside of Faragonda, she made some tea to help calm down Bloom's nerves over the attack.

"Simple, even though they do not have the experience, they are still the descendants to the ancestral witches that first attacked Domino, meaning that they could use that as key to talk with any former allies they had, gain support and before long, gain an army to fight for them. They could also make up for their lack of experience by using the dragon's flame in a way so unpredictable that we will be all but useless to defend against if we don't act now, or we could just sit here and think up what they couldn't do until they show us what they can," Hiei theorized.

"Now that reasoning I can't deny, I'll make the needed arrangements, Griselda, I want you to gather all the teachers and hold off on regular classes till the threat passes and turn all classes into battle training, I want you and the teachers to be captains in our make-do army. For Hiei, I want you to gather all of the Winx Club and have training with them, they will make up the lieutenants to the teachers, and since you have the only dragon's flame, you'll get to be a general," Faragonda ordered before they all left for their assigned duties.

Hiei and Bloom went to the Winx Club's room to relay the information to them, "so that's it, we're all just conscripted into the army of Alfea, great, I just hope we don't have to wear a uniform," Stella commented as soon as she heard that they're going to be in the make shift army.

"This is not a time to be worried about fashion Stella, this is serious," Hiei snapped and the girl deflated and flinched from his tone, "you are each going to be fighting, Bloom will be in charge of communications, taking note of everyone's locations and if you're straying too far from the battlefield. The rest of you are going to be lieutenants, but make no mistake, you are going to be soldiers, you can wear what you want to, but this is going to be ruff, and nothing is going to help you other than your own survival instincts, let's get to work on developing them," and he meant it, harshly. Before they could get far though, the sky darkened almost in an instant and began raining, that rain formed into creatures of dark power, "scratch that, you're all going to receive a crash course in battle and bloodshed, move out, NOW," he ordered almost in a yell and forced the girls into action. Hiei caught Bloom before she could though, "here's my sword, you do not go anywhere without it and you stick to fighting as defense, until we get communications running you will be fighting, do not die," he ordered as he gave her his sword, which was a pretty big deal for her.

"Don't die on me either, if you do, I'll resurrect you to kill you again for leaving me," Bloom threatened as she held his sword expertly, she kept some skills with a blade she acquired from the game, he nodded and headed out with everyone else to see the creatures forming together.

Hiei started to give orders to everyone, "do not do low level narrow beams, use large wave beams, these creatures can reform if they are just disassembled," to emphasize his point, he waved his hand and sent a wave of his energy to disintegrate the monsters before them. It worked in driving the point across, it was a single moment for everyone else to process what he was saying, but they all learned it quickly enough, everyone was sending large bursts of magic out and destroying the creatures in a single blast, but they kept coming. A quick check on Bloom found she was holding her own against the creatures quite well, she easily spun out of the way of an oncoming claw before bisecting the dark creature with a single strike, a random fairy then came in and disintegrated it with a blast after that. Hiei got back to work blasting wide beams through the endless cycle of monsters that came, it was starting to get tedious, "everyone get behind me," all of the fairies got behind him as he sent a massive wave of energy and destroyed all of the monsters in sight in a single moment. That didn't stop the monsters that kept coming though, as the monsters got closer to the battle, they suddenly stopped and fell back, most likely going to wherever they came from, "Set up a perimeter, I want the weak spots at Alfea watched at all times, Palladium, make it happen," he ordered.

After the attack, they were all in Faragonda's office again, "the witches are planning an attack against us, they're doing what their ancestors did, back then they had seriously jeopardized the dimension's balance of power, and now, another generation of witches has taken up the fight. This time though, they possess a weapon their ancestors did not, your power," she said pointing to Bloom, "and that makes them utterly invincible, Bloom, at this point in time the only thing for you to do is to go back to Domino and search in the remnants of the royal palace to help you regain your power."

"In that case, I'll go, but Hiei, you need to stay here while me and the girls go to Domino, we can't leave the school undefended, be safe, I love you," Bloom told him with a hug, the safety of the school was top priority, but they were used to these situations, they had been frequent in the game.

"Very well, I'll go get Palladium, he'll help you get there through that simulation room, I've read up on it and I know it has the capabilities, you better take care while I'm not there, and don't let go of your sword, I love you too," Hiei told her as he hugged her back, they shared a quick kiss before separating.

Hiei left to go secure their defenses, Palladium needed to help them, so he'll take over and make sure everything was safe and ready for the next attack, he found the elf directing the students on where the best spot would be to defend, it didn't take long for him to notice his presence behind him. Palladium looked back before he heard a slight crash and looked to see that two fairies weren't watching where they were going so they ran into each other and crashed to the ground, "sorry girls, what can I do for you general Hiei," he asked, the general thing is going to take some getting used to.

"Faragonda needs for you to meet the girls in that simulation room to take them to Domino, I'll take over for the perimeter detail," Hiei ordered, Palladium nodded before running off to said room, Hiei turned his attention on where the defenses were set up, they were already strong. The only thing that really needed to be done was make sure areal defenses were set up, so he started to instruct them on that, they had been working for a few hours by the time the boys from Red Fountain came to seek shelter since their school was destroyed. This was actually better, now they had more troops and more manpower then what they previously had, but that didn't matter in a war of attrition, which is one of the reasons he was standing beside of Faragonda when they went to receive the boys that had been badly beaten.

"Come on in young men, we'll help you get settled," Faragonda announced as the small army was ushered in, Hiei saw the numbers, but also saw their skills, each one was skilled with a different type of weapon, and each weapon was not easily broken, but their moral was low from their loss.

"Thank you Faragonda, the situation is critical, Red Fountain has been destroyed," Saladin stated solemnly as he eyed Hiei for a moment, he had heard rumors of a young man being the husband to the dragon's flame holder, but he didn't think he would be this young, didn't even reach five feet.

"The magic dimension's fortress lays in ruins, their magical arsenal is astronomical, we had to withdraw," Codatorta hung his head low in shame at that, but then perked up some, "at least, here everyone is safe and sound," well, at least for the moment.

"Not yet, until this threat has been neutralized, there will be no safe place left, this war is only just beginning, my name is Hiei, while here, I'm in charge of the fairy army, I have several years of experience leading troops in combat, fighting in combat, and killing creatures of all types. So, do I trust that I'll have your boy's cooperation while I'm in charge, or do I need to make a demonstration out of some of them," Hiei asked as his eyes narrowed at them, he needed soldiers, and soldiers is what they had.

"Since you are in charge of the army here, I'll give you permission to lead them, but if you prove to be an incompetent leader, I'll take over, is that alright with you," Codatorta asked with a raised eyebrow, Hiei nodded before walking off to have some words with his new troops that have gathered.

They were all gathered in the atrium and waiting for their orders, or to rest a little before going into combat, Hiei decided it was time to get this over with, "what are you all standing around for," Hiei called out from in front of the large group, the boy's looked up to him as if he was crazy. "What, you think you can take it easy for a moment, this is war, and in war you don't have a minute of relaxation, the trix could come with their dark army at any moment, I want everyone getting everything ready for their attack, talk to the teachers, help in any way you can, NOW." Everyone scrambled to get to work, the glare they were getting from this small guy was way worse then anything that Codatorta had ever given them, they'll never admit it of course, but a few were scared to the point of quaking in their boots and almost peeing themselves.

They all got to work with everyone else, first on fortifying the land-based defenses, then working on the areal, and soon they were working on any magical teleporting protection that the sister might use, of course, all this mean nothing if they didn't have good and rested soldiers. So, Faragonda herself devised shifts for everyone, some would rest while everyone else got to work, when their work was done, they would rest while everyone else worked, and by the time that Bloom had returned, Alfea was a fortress ready to stand against the Trix. "Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a college turned into a fortress before, nice job," Stella commented as she and Brandon, that was his name right, got off of the ship that some specialists took to retrieve the girls from Domino, and Sky was trying to flirt with Bloom, trying being the key word.

"I suggest you step away from her now before I assign you to latrine duty, get," Hiei commanded of the prince with a glare, the boy scampered away faster then most could follow, he's been trying to steel Bloom from the demon for a while now, but said demon was having none of it, neither was Bloom.

"I don't know why that guy won't take no for an answer, you know that he thinks I went away because he's marrying Diaspro and he thinks I'm upset about it, I honestly feel sorry for the poor girl," Bloom stated as she hooked arms with her husband, so they could walk together.

"As do I, but you shouldn't mind him, and from their Red Fountain, we've gained some useful information, Knut, the ogre that was working for the Trix, is on our side now and has given us some useful information, the Trix are working out of Cloud Tower," Hiei informed as they walked.

"Then that means that they have Griffin locked up there as well, we need to go get her and the other witches out of their binds, sneak in and make our way to their dungeons, with the fairies, heroes, and witches standing their ground, we can take on the Trix," she suggested.

"Yes, and after we take down the Trix, we should be able to restore your Dragon's flame, the only question left after that what to do with the Trix, sending them to prison of any type is disastrous, but they don't have the death penalty here either," he questioned as they neared Faragonda's office.

"I don't know what they'll do, but I do know that this won't be the end of anything, at least, not for a while, but as long as I have you by my side, I know that I can do anything," Bloom said as she hugged his side tight as they got to Faragonda's door.

Hiei gave a smile and a kiss on the top of her head, "you probably can, but we still need to get past this first, so let's get this strategy meeting over with," he turned his face back to his standard stoic face and she removed herself from him before they walked through the door.

When they got in, they were greeted with the sight of Knut, Faragonda, Codatorta, Stella, Brandon, Sky, Saladin, Sky, and Wizgiz standing around and waiting for them to arrive so they could start the meeting, Faragonda spoke first, "as we all know, the Trix have taken over Cloud Tower."

"We have decided to send in a small group with two objectives, the first is to free the prisoners being held there and get them to Alfea safely, the second is to see if you can get the Dragon Flame back from the witches," Saladin stated after the older fairy spoke.

"That means that Bloom, Stella, Knut, Brandon, and Hiei will be going to Cloud Tower, Bloom so she can try and reconnect with the Dragon Flame, Knut to lead the way through the tunnels, Stella and Brandon for support, and Hiei for a heavy hitter," Faragonda continued as well.

"Now wait just a minute, only a total lunatic would consider going anywhere near Cloud Tower right now, and it's too dangerous for Bloom to go anywhere near those witches," Sky put his two cents in to the conversation, "and shouldn't you be against this," he said to Hiei.

"The only problem I have is that there are too many people going, Stella and Brandon would slow us down, it should just be essential personnel, me, Bloom, and Knut since he's the only one that knows those tunnels," Hiei voiced his opinion, he knew Bloom could handle herself without magic.

"Besides, us sneaking in is the very last thing the witches expect from us, and I need to get right into the castle, we have no other choice," Bloom voiced, she found it annoying that Sky thought of her as a damsel in distress but found it sweet that her husband knew her better.

"Oh, come on, you've lost all of your magic powers, you're putting your life at risk," Sky exclaimed in fury at not being listened to, if only this was a Bloom he could control, one that would be week enough to cower before him and only show her power when ordered.

"First off, that isn't your call to make, second, you have no control over me or when and if I risk my life, third and the most important, you are now, nor will you ever be the one I love, so your opinion on this is irrelevant," Bloom argued back calmly, almost stoically.

"Enough of this, I know what you think Sky, but this decision is not yours, Hiei, I know you want to get this done fast, but just the three of you will not be enough to get by their defenses and free the prisoners, so Stella and Brandon will be going with you," Faragonda ordered sternly.

"Hn," both Hiei and Bloom grunted while turning away from the group a little bit, the others just sweat dropped at how similar they're becoming, they heard of husbands and wives resembling one another but this was getting too weird for them.

"It's time for you to go, say your goodbyes to the other Winx, and make us proud young ones," Saladin said to them, it was time for them to go, and by the looks of the sky and the outside, it was drawing near the final battle, so they needed to hurry, before it's too late.


	9. Tragedy at Cloud Tower

Demons and Fairies

Chapter 9

Tragedy at Cloud Tower

Hiei was waiting by a well while Bloom said goodbye to the Winx, they might not be seeing each other again but they were avoiding that possibility, "well this is it, I'm sorry and I wish I could help you, but we've already discussed it, you'll be more useful here," Bloom stated to them.

"Same old story, you're stubborn as a mule," Musa commented, she wanted to go and be with her friend, Hiei and Bloom couldn't really blame her, any of them really, but this needed to be done in as few people as possible, and they were already pushing it with the amount they had.

"Oh, Musa," Bloom said as she went to hug her and Flora, Stella got in on the hug as well while Tecna shed some actual tears, for a moment Hiei wanted to make a comment that the robot girl was leaking fluid from her eyes, but he chose not to for his own safety from Bloom.

"Are you sure we can't call Kurama to help out as well, we could use him to fight as well," Flora asked, the married couple couldn't tell if it was an actual reason or she just wanted to see her boyfriend, they chose to ignore the second option for now and focus on the first.

"Kurama needs to stay on earth, the Trix could easily move in to conquer it if they wish without people there to stop them, Kurama and the detective as well as a few others should be enough to stop the witches if it comes to that," Hiei explained, but he should be enough to deal with the Trix.

Brandon popped out of the well Hiei was standing next to, "Excuse me, girls, but time is wasting and Knut has found the right path," it was about time, now they could get this suicide mission over with, Hiei went ahead and jumped down into the well and waited at the bottom for Bloom.

Hiei stuck out his arms as if he was carrying something and Bloom dropped down into them, he set her on her feet and they both began to walk to where Knut had a torch and searching his memory before walking in a direction, they trusted in the ogre's instincts and memory to know the way. Stella was about to say something when Hiei took Brandon's hand and put it over her mouth, basically a quiet way of telling her to shut up so the ogre could concentrate, after about half an hour they came across three tunnels, "come on Knut, think, you have a great sense of smell, right," Bloom asked.

Knut sniffed and began leading them down the middle one, they began walking for a while before having to backtrack some from slime monsters, then a flood, then a sticky lake, then living vines, then bugs, they stopped in a passage to catch their breath, well the others, Hiei and Bloom were fine. "'Oh yeah, we'll get out of here no problem' right," Stella mocked before stomping her foot like a child, but what did you expect, this cave is full of smells, and only Knut was familiar with the passage enough to get an idea of where they were, but obviously couldn't tell which smell is which.

"It's not my fault, this place is full of smells," Knut stated while putting his hands on the wall before taking a few sniffs, "hang on a second, I know that stink," the wall gave in and he fell through a hole his weight probably caused, he was sliding down a ramp of some kind.

The others followed since it was likely that what Knut smelled could lead to somewhere, whether it was of value remained to be seen, when they reached the bottom, they found Cloud Towers, though not like they were expecting, "I think this is the Castle's garbage dump," Brandon commented.

"Blech, what a stench, yuck-o," Stella exclaimed while pinching her nose, "we've got to find a way out of here and back into the castle itself," she took on a pose that screamed princess, Hiei struggled, really struggled not to role his eyes as he aided Knut out of a trash pile.

They were about to be surrounded by some giant bugs, but Hiei took his sword that he had given Bloom for a moment and in a flash cut them all to pieces, "we should be able to kill them as long as we don't use magic or energy, that way the witches won't sense anything," Hiei said.

Hiei handed his sword back to Bloom who gave him a kiss on the cheek for saving them, he smiled at her before sensing someone approaching, "now why didn't I think of that," a man came out from the shadows in a trash suit with a hood, he took it off and revealed Riven to them.

They talked as they walked, trying to get into the tower, now with another addition to the team, one with a tale to tell, "I escaped from the dungeon that the Trix were holding me in, but to tell the truth, I didn't get to go very far, up there, past the dump, the witches set up a protective shield. If I had gone one step further, they would have captured me, but I managed to escape the tower itself by jumping out of the high tower window I was absolutely sure it was all over for me, but then a buttress broke my fall and I slid all the way down into the dump. I had to immediately pull myself back together, the place was teeming with beetleroaches, I laid low and looked for camouflage and most importantly, a weapon, the rest of my stay her hasn't been particularly exciting," what do you know, Riven was actually being modest.

"You kidding, you had to put into practice everything we learned at Red Fountain, Survival in a zone totally infested with creatures of the dark, do you remember Codatorta's lesson, never hide downwind and keep your fingers out of your nose," Brandon complimented, they shared a laugh.

Riven turned sad for a moment, Hiei guessed what he wanted to say but now wasn't the time, "hold your apology to Brandon for the things you've done until after we've completed the mission, which I'm assuming you're joining us on so let's go," he said and Riven nodded.

"Alright then, let's get a move on, Knut has found the tunnel that leads right into the castle, unfortunately this doesn't mean we're out of the woods just yet, but something tells me our little visit here won't be a walk in a park," Bloom stated as they continued to walk.

They continued to walk a for a while, wordlessly following Knut until they entered the castle where he put his finger to his mouth to be quiet, there was a guard close by, but they were to where Knut knew so he searched for the concrete block to press in and opened a door, they followed. They came out in the Trix old dorm room, it was poorly decorated according to Stella, he silenced her upcoming comment with Brandon's hand again, "from here we have access to the castle, and getting out of this room is not a problem, I've learned to move about without being noticed. First we need to go down a couple of stories, the tunnel leading us down is through there," Knut pointed to a mirror on the wall, he opened it up and they all walked through, well Hiei and Bloom walked first, then everyone else, Knut closed it up as the last one through.

They walked down a spiraling staircase before going down even more stares beyond an archway, or a labyrinth of stares before reaching the bottom, Hiei sensed something and disappeared for a moment to kill the eye drone that would have reported back to its master of their presence. They continued to walk further into the castle until they came to where the Tix keep their secrets, Brandon and Riven broke off to go free the prisoners and Knut led them to where the Trix supposedly most likely would keep Bloom's dragon flame.

Something wasn't right to Hiei though, he couldn't sense the dragon flame, so when they got to the door, he narrowed his eyes as they stepped through the door, that flame didn't feel like the dragon flame power at all, so when Bloom got close to it, it froze thanks to the Trix appearance. The others were blown back leaving only Hiei and Bloom standing by frozen flame "surprise, that's not your flame Bloom, your flame is out of your reach, deep in our entity, and you could never get it back, hehehe you lose fairy," Icy declared, clearly missing Hiei being there.

Bloom growled as Darcy stepped forward before Hiei stepped in front of Bloom and blocked her path, "see, we're stronger than either of you now, but you'll never be able to tell anyone," Darcy said with a dark smile, they were at a disadvantage, especially with only Hiei as reliable counter.

Icy came up and pushed Darcy out of the way, "and do you know why you will never tell," she asked thinking they were obviously stupid, "because Cloud Tower will be your grave," before all three of the witches started to cackle like mad witches, that obviously set Hiei off.

Before he could act however, a green light came in and blasted the witches across the room, the couple looked to the entrance and saw Griffin coated in a green outline from a power up, "take that as a warning, you three deserve the worst kind of punishment for what you've done."

The witches were free, but there was no way they would be able to escape with the Trix on their tail, "take the others and go Griffin," Hiei ordered and the elder witch turned to him with surprise, "I'll hold off the Trix and block their intent to capture you again, leave, now," he ordered.

Bloom came up and gave him a kiss, "come back, you hear me, come back to me," she ordered and he nodded, "I want your word that you'll come back, not a nod, not a grunt, I want your word that you will come back no matter what, say it," she ordered with pleading eyes.

"Very well, you have my word that I will return to you no matter what," Hiei told her and she smiled at him before giving another kiss, "now go, this is going to be quite the fight," he ordered and she left, she still had pleading eyes as if asking not to fight but knew that he had to cover them. He noticed that after she was clear that Griffin cast a spell to seal the witches and him inside for a while, probably as extra insurance that they'll all escape, meaning that Hiei can fight them long enough to divide their attention in controlling the army of darkness.

"Well wasn't that romantic, a final lovers goodbye, to bad you had to lie to her," Icy mocked as her sisters snickered, "I can't wait to wipe your stain from existence," she was the first to attack with an ice blast that he put up a wall of fire to burn away the blast before charging them. Darcy went out a pulse of her illusion magic to try and give him vertigo, but he was use to feeling such effects thanks to his training so it was of little help, only made his movements a little slower, but Stormy was there to help out where her sister was lacking. She sent out a wave of dark lightning that made him roll out of the way before making a dash for the two, but Icy coated her form in ice and crashed into him, he flew back some and rolled with the hit until he was on his feet and kept going with a fire coated fist. Stormy sent some more lightning his way while Icy froze the floor, he jumped up in the surprisingly large room and made it to behind Darcy, who turned invisible and tried to roundhouse kick him, he ducked and spun on his heel to kick her instead but left himself open to take dark lightning. Hiei slammed into the wall from the strong force the lightning brought before Icy again slammed into him with her body coated in Ice, Darcy kept giving him vertigo and Stormy sent some more lightning his way, so he produced flames from his body and forced them back.

Hiei slammed his hands into the ground and pillars of fire erupted from it being sent directly for the witches, they managed to fly out of the way, but they separated, he used his speed to attack Darcy first by flying into the wall behind her and using that as a springboard to get to her. He grabbed her ankles and flipped her along with himself twice before slamming her into the ground, using the momentum of the flips he propels himself over to a stunned Stormy where she was grabbed by the right leg and arm before spun three times before being implanted in the wall. Icy at least saw him coming and reacted in time to send dozens of ice shards his way and forced him to dodge by running along the wall at a good speed before getting to the barrier set up by Griffin, using that as another springboard to reach the ceiling and over an incoming wide ice blast. When on the ceiling, Hiei dropped down and brought the heel of his foot onto her head and sent her dropping to the ground, of course this only seemed to add more fuel to their burning hate for him since it broke her nose a bit, thus making all three very mad.

The Trix all rose to their feet and ran to get close to one another, Hiei didn't want to let that happen so he dug his hands into the ground again and used the same move as before, only for it to all be frozen over by Icy and her magic, so he was left with only using his speed. Darcy knew this was going to happen so she gave him a sense of vertigo while Stormy created a loud thunder clap enough to make him lose his balance even more do to his naturally sensitive ears ringing, and giving the three of them just enough time to join together. They used their combined power to draw it inward and than in one quick movement, shot it out in a sudden burst of magical energy, literally blowing the roof off the building, now all they had to do was fly up and out and away from the demon a little ways. Hiei wasn't going to let that happen though, so while they were floating up to the top of the hole they made, Hiei was jumping from wall to wall as fast as he could and reached it just as the Trix did, so it was easy to make fire blast form him in a spiral to knock them down to a platform.

They ended up in a pile, but were slowly getting back up, "you know, if you would just come to our side then all four of us could have ruled this universe," Icy commented on her left knee with her left hand on the ground and right hand on her right knee, she looked to be out of breath.

"We'd have loved to share someone as strong as you, not that we're usually into that sort of thing, but we're flexible," Darcy said on both her knees and hunched over, they never expected the demon to be so tough to beet, but that didn't mean they won't win, just take a little longer.

"Could have had three beautiful women all to yourself for the rest of eternity, probably share you by passing you around a month at a time, wouldn't that be nice," Stormy was just hunched over but standing, who knew the crush they had developed on him all this time would come into play.

"I'm flattered, but I already have a loving wife that I love back, so you can take your offer and shove it," Hiei said while in a ready stance, he raised his arms and focused fire in between them, it created a sphere that would explode on impact, he shot it towards the Trix hoping to end this. Icy focused on her magic and created a large ice barrier to block the sphere and resulting explosion while Stormy charged up her powers with the sky darkening over and becoming like a thunderstorm, using that energy, when the wall was destroyed, she unleashed her power on him. Lightning was striking close to him left and right while he dodged those that almost hit him, then he felt the dizzying effects of vertigo and saw Darcy was using her old trick, but it was long enough for a lightning bolt to strike him, then another and then another until he was smoking.

"Looks like we might just kill you rather than have you be our concubine, what a shame it has to end this way," Icy said as she charged up an ice attack while Darcy kept him off balance with her mental powers, Stormy was readying an even more potent storm blast. This just wasn't shaping up to be his day was it, he got up and forced his mind to focus, it wasn't a physical attack, it was mental, so it should be easy to stop, especially when he brought the Jagan into it, he focused and sent a psychic wave that knocked Darcy for a loop. Icy and Stormy were done charging their power though, so they sent a large wave of ice coming form the front while a large lightning storm struck above him, so he did the only thing he could think to do, he unleashed the energy he had stored up to that point.

* * *

With Bloom

For Bloom and the others, they were all being attacked by the army of darkness while Griffin had started a spell to transport them to Alfea, she was doing good with nothing but a sword to use against the creatures, ducking and cutting them up as the witches and Stella destroyed what's left. After slicing one in half, they saw the lightning storm start striking the first time, on one of the many platforms of Cloud Tower stood Hiei going against the Trix, and it looked like he was losing, but only for a moment as the next he was up and knocked Darcy back with an invisible force. Just as Icy and Stormy began to unleash another attack, Hiei unleashed his own power and erupted with a huge wave of power that burned almost everything in the area, it was able to knock Bloom into the portal screaming his name, "HIEI," her shout reverberated until they were back to school.

She landed with a thump back on the grounds and just laid there, thinking over what she just saw, her own husband basically blew himself up just so they would have a chance to defeat the Trix, tears started to form in the corners of her eyes as reality of what happened caught up. The explosion from Hiei's sacrifice would weaken the Trix, weaken their hold on the army of darkness, and most importantly, enrage Bloom into doing something she'd been putting off, visiting her sister at the lake, she thought she could do it only with Hiei, but not now.

In truth, she was also afraid, nature vs nurture was debatable, so what if Daphne didn't approve of her marriage to Hiei, Daphne was raised as a pure princess from a great land, Bloom was raised by two earthlings who taught her to see the best in every living being until they proved not. So Daphne could have always been against the marriage from the start, raised to believe that all demons were evil and beyond redemption, though the nature of fairies were to be good and pure and protect all life in a way, so it was also a possibility that the fairy nature trumps nurture. Now she had to go and risk that since Hiei was no longer by her side, all because of the Trix, the evil witches that would sooner destroy everything and rule over a grave yard than trying to understand one another, rule unremorsefully instead of living peacefully, be bad instead of good. Now though, it didn't really matter one way or another, Bloom was going to that lake, meeting her sister again, and for the final time, she was going to go to battle with the Trix, and one of the them was going to die, only Hiei could stop her now, so now there was no one to stop her.

She rose up from her lying position and began walking with dead eyes, the rest of the Winx looked to be about to run up to her and comfort her at what just happened, but she just turned back and glared at them, they stopped at that moment, it looked like Hiei's, so much like his. She gripped his sword tighter and tighter as she began walking again, the others really wanted to say something, to comfort her, console her in any way they could, but they just couldn't, for the first time in a while, they were afraid of their friend, it was no telling what she'd do now.


End file.
